Posted on 07/18/2014 4:56:51 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The 18-pound, barnacle-encrusted lobster had seen better days.
After evading for at least 75 years the fate met by countless other crustaceans, he found himself in an offshore trawler, ultimately ending up in the tank at Mullaney’s Fish Market in Scituate.
Luckily for the lobster, store owner Joby Norton has a soft spot for older sea creatures.
“We’ve had people come in who wanted to buy him for the Fourth, but we decided we don’t want to sell him,” Norton said Tuesday in his Scituate Harbor market. “We’re better off letting him go so he can live out his life.”
Dubbed “Luke” by the staff at Mullaney’s, the humongous lobster will soon return to his natural habitat. Norton plans to send him back out to sea on a lobster boat as soon as this weekend.
“I thought about letting him go off Peggotty Beach, but I think I’ll have a lobsterman bring him out,” Norton said. “We’ll give him something to eat and send him on his way. Give him a head-start.”
Luke has become a mascot of sorts during his three weeks in the market. Norton purchased him from a local lobster boat that caught him offshore.
“The one-pound lobsters average 5 to 7 years old, so at 18 pounds, we figure he’s about 75,” Norton said. “It’s hard to tell the exact age when they get that big because there’s no rings like a tree.”
Lobsters typically shed their armor every year, making it hard for biologists to determine how old they are. Norton believes it’s been a few years since Luke shed his shell.
The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association claimed the record for the largest lobster in 1974 when it caught the 37.4-pound “Big George” off Cape Cod, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. The average lobster weights about 1.5 pounds.
Norton said customers have been “amazed” by Luke’s size, especially when he’s next to a 3-pound lobster, typically considered large.
Norton said he’s seen lobsters as large as 24 pounds, but he hasn’t seen one as big as Luke in about a decade. He’d sell for at least $100, Norton said. “But he’s made it this long,” he said. “We’d rather let him go.”
Aw....he’d a’ probably been tough anyway! LOL!
We catch Dungeness in Bodega Bay every year between Christmas and New Year’s— we call it Crabmas. Big family tradition....
And for those gourmets that like to eat lobster's liver, imagine how many toxins it's absorbed in 75 years.
No thanks.
I first had Dungeness in Bodega Bay. I no only rarely eat any other type of crab. They’re fantastic.
Large lobsters are estimated to have aged up to 60 years old, although determining age is difficult.[9]
Research suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken, or lose fertility with age, and that older lobsters may be more fertile than younger lobsters. This longevity may be due to telomerase, an enzyme that repairs long repetitive sections of DNA sequences at the ends of chromsomes, referred to as telomeres. Telomerase is expressed by most vertebrates during embryonic stages but is generally absent from adult stages of life.[10] However, unlike most vertebrates, Lobsters express telomerase as adults through most tissue, which has been suggested to be related to their longevity.[11][12][13]
Lobsters, like many other decapod crustaceans, grow throughout life, and are able to add new muscle cells at each molt.[14] Lobster longevity allows them to reach impressive sizes. According to Guinness World Records, the largest lobster ever caught was in Nova Scotia, Canada, weighing 20.15 kilograms (44.4 lb).[15][16]
Once they get much over a few pounds they tend to be tough, better for chowder than steamed or broiled.
Absolutely delicious!
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