It's a lobster pot of gold!

Eddie Dougal caught the unusual crustacean off the coast of Scotland near Dunbar and knew instantly that this one was not destined for the boiling pot.

The odds of finding a lobster with such incredible colouring is believed to be one in five million so it is now amazing crowds at Deep Sea World in Fife. 

Michael Morris, from the aquarium, said: 'No-one is entirely sure why these sort of colour changes happen in individual crustaceans.

'It may be some kind of genetic mutation or a reaction to some kind of outside stimulus.

'We also don't know if the colouration will stay the same when the lobster eventually moults or whether it will revert back to a normal blue colour.'

Aquarium bosses said the lobster appears to be in excellent condition. It will stay in a quarantine area for the next few days before being released into one of the native marine displays.

But it's not the rarest lobster found lately. One found off the coast of Scarborough, U.S., this week has a two-toned shell, split right down the middle with one half black and the other orange.

The chances of finding one with these unusual markings are believed to be one in fifty million, according to research by the Lobster Institute, making them ten times rarer than golden lobsters

It arrived last week at Pine Point Fisherman's Co-Op in the east coast town but staff weren't sure which fisherman brought it in, Portland Press Herald reports.

The institute reports that only the albino lobster is rarer, with the chances of catching it at one in 100 million.

Adam Baukus, a scientist at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, told NECN that this split lobster is even more peculiar than usual.

While most split lobsters are split by color all the way down their body - this lobster has it's own unique coloring: the tail and claws are both split but the body is all brown.

However, it's not the first, as one was found off the east coast of Britain in 2010.

The creature was captured near Bridlington in East Yorkshire and has been looked after by curious staff who have since monitored his colourful transition at Scarborough Sea Life Centre. 

The eye-catching lobster called Harley Quinn has become even more striking after moulting to reveal electric blue skin down one side of his body.

His claws are the opposite colours to the corresponding sides of his body, making him look like he has been divided into four.

He is named after the comic servants called harlequins, who wore brightly coloured suits.

The sea creature amazed experts when it was caught in 2010 with a yellow, red and black body, buts its unusual appearance has intensified with each moult.

Harley, who is thought to be five or six years old, has now shed his unique armour for the second time since his arrival at the centre and his keepers were delighted to see his new suit is his most spectacular yet.

'Whereas he was a reddish-black on one side and sandy colour on the other, he has now adopted a deep electric blue down one side,' said Amy McFarlane, of the centre.

Lobsters shed their hard shells as they outgrow them and need a quiet safe haven for a few days while a new larger shell develops and hardens.

The colouring of most young lobsters intensifies every time they moult and a spokesman for the centre told MailOnline: 'The process is much the same with normal lobsters but I've never seen one that's half and half with a weird transfer of colour on its claws – he looks like an old fashioned harlequin jester.'

'The line down his back is dead straight. It's almost as if someone has used a ruler and he was designed by a draftsman.'

The lobster's two-toned colouring is the result of a genetic mutation. The two sides of the creature developed independently with one half lacking the blue colouring, crustacyanin.

Experts say that one in thirty million lobsters is yellow and one in every two million is blue, like this one found off the coast of Maine last summer.

Jay LaPlante of the Miss Meghan's Lobster Catch company caught the unique crustacean about roughly 10 miles from Portland, reported USA Today.

It was his daughter Meghan, 14, who discovered the lobster while hauling in traps.

Meghan immediately named the two-pound lobster Skyler, and having bonded with it said it would not be cooked, instead sending it to Maine State Aquarium.

(dailymail.co.uk)