Finistère: a golden lobster, extremely rare specimen, caught on the island of Ouessant

An extremely rare lobster was caught by Jean-Denis Morin on the island of Ouessant, off the coast of Finistère. After pampering the crustacean for three months, the fisherman decided to part with it.

The incredible story of this golden lobster – of which there is only one specimen out of 30 million – began on August 5, when Jean-Denis, a professional fisherman, was collecting his traps at the point of Pern, off the coast of Ouessant. Seeing this lobster different from the others, the latter put it aside.

“One in thirty million”

“When we observed it, I thought it was an albino lobster, an equally rare mutation. So, we put it aside, in a pool, without thinking too much, until we could contact someone from the scientific community,” explained to Parisian Ondine Morin, Jean-Denis's wife, also a professional fisherman.

The golden lobster, which has orange antennae, “is the rarest,” said Ondine Morin on France Bleu, adding: “We think there is one in thirty million lobsters. » “A golden lobster is a blue lobster like we know here on the Breton coasts, with a small genetic difference,” continued Ouessantine.

Its shell will be studied in the United States

“We immediately saw that the other lobsters were jumping on him,” noted Ondine Morin, which is why he got preferential treatment. The crustacean was immersed in a pool of 600 liters of water and fed. But after three months of this treatment, and although the fishing couple's 5-year-old son became attached to the crustacean, the family decided to entrust him to the Trégastel aquarium (Côtes-d'Armor), which has other lobsters “with color deficiencies”.

This way, it will be able to molt under supervision and the shell will then be shipped to Maine, in the United States, to a professor working precisely on this type of lobster.