Rare blue lobster found at local grocery store

CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) — What started as an ordinary trip to the grocery store, has ended with an extraordinarily rare find. A local family saves a blue lobster from the store's tank, sparing its life.

Danielle Morales and her sons Parker and Zachary were in Clifton Park waiting for a haircut when they decided to go to a nearby Market32.

“And the boys always ask to go to the lobster tank,” said Morales. And that’s when they found “a blue lobster,” said Parker.

“We were walking around and they kept talking about the blue lobster and I was like, ‘You know what, why don’t we just contact somebody at the aquarium’,” said Morales. 

They are members at Via Aquarium in Rotterdam and sent a photo to them on social media. Later that day, Parker explains they “came and saved him.”

Via Aquarium General Manager Tom Lavin describes just how rare this find is.

“Some statistics say one in 3 million, some say one in 30 million. So he’s pretty rare either way,” said Lavin.

He said in one to two years, after shedding its exoskeleton a few times, biologists expect the blue color should brighten. As for the lobster’s name? The aquarium has consulted the boys on that.

“They are big fans of Bluey. So we told them if it was a female lobster we’d go with Bluey, if it was a male lobster we’d go with Bandit. We were able to confirm it is a male so we are going with Bandit as its official name,” said Lavin.

Director of Seafood for Northeast Shared Services Jamie Bouchard said they’ve found some before, but none this rare. He extended a special offer to the family. 

“I’d love to pick-up dinner, any seafood item you possibly want. Great find!” said Bouchard, who got the family a fried fish dinner to show their appreciation.

“We donate these lobsters for education purposes. We want people to know about lobsters and it’s great to have an exhibit where you can have some verbiage around it,” said Bouchard.

Lavin said his education department at the aquarium is already working on updating the exhibit signage and they expect it to be on display the first week of October when they anticipate Bandit will be moved into his new home.