July 24, 2012 — It’s a biggie. The New England Aquarium recently gained a rather large addition to its crustacean collection: a 21-pound lobster.
A fisherman caught the denizen of the deep while diving in Orleans and sold it to Capt’n Elmer’s Fish Market in that town, which decided to capitalize on the novelty of the monster lobster.
Market owner Michelle Costa said staff held a raffle to benefit the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The winner of the raffle would receive 21 pounds of retail-size lobsters and have the chance to accompany fish market staff in the giant lobster’s release, according to a press release.
But the winner, who wished to remain anonymous, declined the lobster feast and wanted the animal donated to the New England Aquarium instead of being released into the wild.
Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse said the large animal arrived at the aquarium Monday afternoon. It will be on exhibit in the Cold Marine Gallery after completing a routine quarantine process. He said every new animal at the aquarium is required to go through the 30-day quarantine period.
“It’s in its own huge, big tank by itself,” LaCasse said.
He said the aquarium already houses a lobster of a similar size and that the animals will be rotated in the exhibit.
LaCasse said the aquarium separates its lobsters into two groups. Thousands of smaller lobsters, not meant for exhibit purposes, are sent to the lobster nursery research lab, and are often shipped out to other facilities, since the aquarium is the largest of its kind near prime fishing grounds.
The more interesting lobsters — those that are orange, calico, cobalt blue, or impressive in size — are sent to exhibit tanks. LaCasse said it can actually be a challenge for visitors to spot a “normal” lobster in the tanks.
He said federal and state authorities have passed stricter regulations to protect the reproductive capacity of large lobsters, because they are “clearly very genetically superior” and are important for breeding purposes in the wild.
He is unsure whether the famous lobster will get a name, and said it depends on the naming practices of the animal’s biologist.
Read the full story in the Boston Globe