When crabbing just outside of the Glebe Bay on the South River, 23-year-old Ricky Cassidy caught something he’d never seen before—an all-blue crab.

Known as “true blues,” the crab was literally all blue. Most crabs that come from local waters are dark green or grey in color and have blue claws, but this one was completely different.

“I’ve been crabbing for like five or six years and I’ve never seen one. It was kind of weird,” Cassidy said. “I was just really surprised. I did a double take. I thought, ‘Did somebody spray paint this thing?’ ”

Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences (VIMS) professor Rom Lipcius said finding blue crabs is definitely rare, but not unheard of, according to an article on the VIMS website.

The article stated that the largest “true blue” crab ever found weighed more than one pound and had a shell almost 11 inches long.

Cassidy’s “true blue” wasn’t nearly that big, but when compared with a traditional crab found in the South River, the color difference was immediately noticeable. 

The local waterman said he doesn’t plan on keeping the crab and that he plans to just add the “true blue” to his list of famous catches—he caught an albino crab once as well. 

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