'One In 30 Million' Yellow Lobster Found Off MA Coast

NANTUCKET, MA — A Nantucket boat captain recently had a "one in 30 million" guest on board his vessel.

Jim Sjolund, captain at Alaskan Leader Fisheries, said the F/V Julie ALice commercial lobster boat was out trawling when the team made the discovery.

Sjolund shared photos on Facebook Saturday from the rare encounter, including a side-by-side comparison of a regular-colored lobster with the yellow one.

At the time, Sjolund added in the comments that they were in search of a name for the lobster. By Friday, they had landed in "Yellownardo De Pinchy," Sjolund announced in a Facebook Reel.

"We had a lot of good suggestions, one of them being Homer Shrimpson," he said on video while holding the yellow lobster.

After the name reveal, Sjolund said that he was going to return Yellownardo to his friends.

Sjolund placed what appears to be a piece of fish into Yellownardo's claws and then threw him into the ocean.

"He got a snack and he's going back," Sjolund said.

Though they are typically reddish-brown, lobsters have made headlines over the years for sometimes popping up in unusual colors, including orange and blue.

These color changes can be due to genetic and dietary differences, Andrew Goode, lead administrative scientist for the American Lobster Settlement Index at the University of Maine, told The Associated Press.

Yellownardo is in good company, with a handful of other yellow lobsters going viral over the past few decades.

In 2021, one named Banana was caught off the coast of Maine. Before that, in 2009, a yellow lobster named Fiona was caught in Canada.