Ghost lobster
© Mike Billings/FacebookGhost lobster
Their lack of pigmentation is caused by a genetic condition.

Don't be scared; just get some drawn butter ready.

A fisherman in Maine made the catch of a lifetime off the coast of Stonington, where he caught a translucent "ghost lobster" early Tuesday, the Portland Press Herald reports.

"Caught a translucent white lobster!" Mike Billings posted on Facebook. "1:100 million yow!"

But Billings later tossed the creepy crustacean back overboard because it was too small, leading some commenters to question why he didn't hold onto his find.


"Aw, I bet the New England Aquarium would have loved it," one woman replied.

Tuesday's catch wasn't Billings' first unusual ocean discovery, according to the newspaper. In 2014, he snagged a lobster with one blue claw and a rare calico lobster with a speckled brown and orange shell.

The lobster's light hue is likely caused by a genetic mutation or an unusual diet. It's unclear just how rare they really are, but they're found in waters once every four to five years, a professor of sustainability and food solutions at the University of Massachusetts Boston told National Geographic.

A lobster's coloring comes from a pigment called astaxanthin, which changes its shading depending on location. The pigment is red in the skin, where it hangs loose and free, but turns blue inside the shell, where proteins bind the astaxanthin, professor Michael Tlusty said.

While previously working at the New England Aquarium, Tlusty said he accidentally created white-hued lobsters after turning to a cheaper food alternative that didn't contain astaxanthin. The critters were healthy, but boasted a ghost-white shade.

"A lot of animals eat this and incorporate this color into their pigmentation," Tlusty told National Geographic in June. "Flamingos do it, salmon do it, and it turns out lobsters do it."

Another fisherman off the coast of Maine caught a "ghost lobster" in August 2017 while trapping mottled green and brown lobsters in Cumberland. Alex Todd said the find was "definitely weird" and posted photos of the catch before tossing it back into the ocean because its tail had been notched, meaning it was an egg-bearing female.