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Rare blue lobster trapped by Maine father-daughter team

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[August 26, 2014]  MANCHESTER N.H. (Reuters) - A Maine teenager and her father have landed a one-in-two-million catch - a blue lobster.

Meghan LaPlante, 14, said she and her father pulled in the vivid blue crustacean from one of their traps on Saturday.

"It definitely stood out," LaPlante said on Monday. "We were really surprised. I've never caught anything like it."

LaPlante helps her father run the family's Miss Meghan's Lobster Catch business in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.

The blue color is the result of a rare genetic mutation that causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of a particular protein.

Most lobsters are dark bluish green to greenish brown. Scientists estimate the blue coloring occurs in only one out of 2 million lobsters.

LaPlante and her father have agreed to donate the lobster to the Maine State Aquarium.

LaPlante said she named the lobster "Skyler" for its blue color, and because it's one of her favorite names.

(Reporting by Ted Siefer; Editing by Paul Simao)

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