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Displaying items by tag: blue lobster

A Northern Ireland fisherman who landed a blue lobster last week says it was a “one in two million” shot, as Belfast Live reports.

Stuart Brown made the marine wildlife discovery of his lifetime on Friday (3 February) while hauling lobster pots set near Blackhead Lighthouse in Carrickfergus.

“You would get lobsters out there that don’t look normal, they’d be a bit browner or redder, just something different with them, but nothing that extreme,” he said.

As the cerulean crustacean was under the allowable size to keep, Brown snapped some photos before releasing it back into the waters of Belfast Lough — where it may yet surprise another unsuspecting fisher or local.

Belfast Live has more on the story HERE.

Published in Marine Wildlife
A rare blue lobster has become and unlikely tourist attraction in Co Clare, the Irish Times reports.
The lobster - its blue hue believed to be caused by a genetic trait similar to albinism in humans - avoided the cooking pot and now takes pride of place at Martina Sweeney's seafood shop in New Quay.
Her fisherman husband Gerry, who caught the crustacean, said: "I’ve been fishing for 30 years and have never seen anything like this."
It's believed that only one in three million lobsters is blue. Due to their bright colouring they are often prey for other sea creatures.

A rare blue lobster has become and unlikely tourist attraction in Co Clare, The Irish Times reports.

The lobster - its blue hue believed to be caused by a genetic trait similar to albinism in humans - avoided the cooking pot and now takes pride of place at Martina Sweeney's seafood shop in New Quay.

Her fisherman husband Gerry, who caught the crustacean, said: "I’ve been fishing for 30 years and have never seen anything like this."

It's believed that only one in three million lobsters is blue. Due to their bright colouring they are often prey for other sea creatures.

Published in Marine Wildlife

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.