Rare blue lobster on display after being caught off Maine coast

Eat your heart out, Red Lobster!

A father and son fishing off the coast of Maine snagged an extremely rare blue lobster – a 1 in 2 million catch that is now on display in a tank at the family restaurant.

Mark Rand and his son Luke caught the remarkable bright blue crustacean Thursday near Peaks Island in Casco Bay, the Portland Press Herald reported.

“We’ve never pulled one this color or even seen one to throw back,” Luke Rand, 36, who has been fishing for two decades, told the newspaper.

But the striking sea critter won’t be served up with butter anytime soon.

Instead, the crustacean named “Lucky Bluey” is being kept at a tank at Becky’s Dinner in Portland, which is owned by Rand’s mother, employees said Monday.

“Yup, it’s here in a tank,” a worker who asked not to be identified confirmed to The Post.

The lucky lobster will stay in the tank for about a week before being released back into the wild. Owner Becky Rand was unavailable to comment, the employee said.

Luke Rand, meanwhile, thinks the Lucky Bluey will turn heads at his mother’s eatery – a popular destination for local politicians and dignitaries whose previous guests include first lady Jill Biden, former President Bill Clinton and pop superstar Taylor Swift, according to the Press Herald.

Rand, of Falmouth, said tourists took photos of his catch as he and his father showed the lobster to their dealer on Custom House Wharf.

“It’s not something that you see every day,” Rand told the newspaper.

The odds of catching a blue lobster are 1 in 2 million, according to the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute. Most are greenish-brown, but can be yellow, orange, white, multicolored or blue. The blue hue stems from a genetic defect that causes the animal to produce excessive amounts of a particular protein.

But all bets are off regarding color once the lobsters are thrown into pots to be served up to diners, experts at the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute explained.

“A lobster of any color (except white) will turn red when you cook it,” a FAQ page says on the university’s website.