The unusual blue color that would have shortened a lobster's life in the wild may keep one alive in a Massachusetts tank.

Betty Blue was trapped off Hingham, Mass.. While she weighs only a pound and a quarter, the blue color, caused by a rare genetic defect, makes her one in a million, WCVB-TV reported.

John Nelson of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department told the Portland, Maine, Press-Herald that blue lobsters have a genetic defect that leads to over-production of a protein. He said that their rarity is probably a combination of few being born and even fewer surviving very long.

"A legal-sized lobster has to survive a long time, roughly five to seven years," said Nelson. "Normally lobsters try and blend in with their surrounds so being bright blue doesn't help."

Eddie Figueiredo, the fisherman who found Betty Blue, says that because of her color "she glowed in the trap."

If blue lobsters are cooked, they turn the same bright orange as red lobsters. But normally they do not make it to the pot.

Betty Blue is now on display at the Lobster Pound, a seafood restaurant in Hingham.

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