Ultra-rare blue lobster saved minutes before going into boiling pot

AN ultra-rare blue lobster was saved from the pot at the last minute.

Larry was due to be served up in a roll and tart.

But chef Austin Hopley suffered a “crisis of conscience” when he realised how rare the lobster is.

The odds of seeing a blue lobster are 200million to one.

Austin, 23, spotted Larry at the Hare on the Hill restaurant near Rochdale, Gtr Manchester, this week.

He said: “There were two lobsters and I saw one was a really deep sapphire blue.

“I was surprised. I didn’t know why it was blue. I found out it was really rare, so I thought, ‘I can’t kill this’. We couldn’t see it through and put it on the menu.”

Larry now has a new home at Sea Life Manchester. Austin added: “They were really happy to take him.

"I felt responsible. Something so rare didn’t warrant a place on the menu.”

The Hare on the Hill will no longer serve them.

Rare blue lobsters have a genetic variation.

It comes as boiling any lobsters alive could be made illegal.

A Government review is looking into whether crustaceans can feel pain.