Fisherman catches one-in-two-million bright 'blue lobster’

Wayne Nickerson, a lobsterman in Cape Cod, called him ‘bleu'

The blue colouring is caused by a genetic defect (Jan Nickerson)

When he reeled in his catch off the Cape Cod coast, a fisherman was surprised to find a bright blue lobster.

Wayne Nickerson, a commercial lobsterman who has worked for the past three and a half decades in Plymouth, Massachusetts, was at the wheel of his boat when he saw the blue lobster in a wire trap, as reported by ABC News.

Mr Nickerson called his wife, Jan, and asked her to meet him when he docked the boat to show her his discovery.

"He let out a loud exclamation of excitement," Ms Nickerson told ABC News.

"He was very clear about how excited he was."

His wife named the 2-pound lobster "Bleu".

The lobster was the second only such crustacean that Mr Nickerson had caught in 35 years, after the first blue lobster in 1990.

Only one in two million lobsters is blue, according to the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, due to a copious amount of a protein from a genetic defect.

Jan Nickerson (Jan Nickerson)

But the clawed crustaceans can also be found in other colours, including yellow, orange and brown split and tortoise shell. There is also an "albino" lobster.

The chances of finding a brown and orange lobster is one in 50 million, according to the institute.

Bleu has been plucked out of the lobster pot and placed in a tank with several other lobsters at the Nickersons’ home.

The couple said they hope to show him off at a local aquarium soon.

Boston’s New England Aquarium media relations director, Tony LaCrosse, reportedly said the blue lobster was "spectacular" and they would take the animal if they have space.