More than two feet long with an olive-green shell and bright blue joints, a huge female lobster sits in its tank at the local Market Basket, waiting to be purchased.

“That size and the color? That was a first for me,” Chris Dutra, the seafood manager at Market Basket, said.

Around two weeks ago, a large female lobster weighing close to ten pounds was sent to the seafood department at the Market Basket in Burlington. The lobster, though classified as a common Homarus americanus (American lobster), has attracted attention for its enormous size and noticeable blue tints.

The lobster was initially thought to be a true blue lobster — an American lobster that is entirely blue due to a one in two million genetic anomaly. Though the lobster at the supermarket is not completely blue, the blue coloring on its joints and antennae and beneath its tail make it unique.

“This is uncommon but certainly not as rare as a completely blue lobster,” Jordan Baker, a senior aquarist at the New England Aquarium, told the Lexington Observer. “Lobsters have layers of color in their shells … It looks like this one has a layer of brown and blue as well as yellow.”

The lobster by itself and next to an average-sized lobster. Photos by Victoria Woo and Eleni Splagounias.

The lobster was sent to Market Basket by Canobie Seafoods in Salem, NH, which supplies all of the supermarket’s lobsters. Its bulk is indicative of its age, as lobsters continue growing throughout their lifespan.

“We’re guessing right around 50 to 60 years old,” Michael Morley, a worker at Market Basket, said.

The lobster has not been purchased yet, despite costing roughly $150, or $14.99 per pound — a relatively low price, according to Morley. 

LexObserver first learned about the lobster from Eleni Splagounias, a shopper who spotted it at Market Basket about a week ago. Splagounias noted that the lobster’s size could make its meat tough and less pleasant to eat.

“I’d like to see it either be released into the ocean, especially because it’s a female, or at least [used] for educational purposes,” Splagounias said.

Splagounias also contacted both the New England Aquarium and the Seacoast Science Center in New Hampshire, and noted that the former was in contact with other aquariums that might be willing to take the lobster.

“[That] would be much better than having it steamed,” she said.

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