Lobster gets new home
Anthony CarrollHe is one elderly gentleman you probably would not want to shake pincers with.A 4kg European lobster has been saved from becoming a tasty meal after he was donated to the Sealife Centre in Great Yarmouth.Anthony Carroll
He is one elderly gentleman you probably would not want to shake pincers with.
A 4kg European lobster has been saved from becoming a tasty meal after he was donated to the Sealife Centre in Great Yarmouth.
The lobster, who could be 40-years-old, was given to the tourist attraction after it was spotted at the Lowestoft fish market on Thursday.
Because of his age the aquatic animal probably lived close to the region's shore.
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Fish merchant Richard Denny was so struck by the size and age of the crustacean he decided it would better to give him a new home than see the animal end up as lobster thermidor.
The mussel and barnacle encrusted lobster, who is missing two legs, is now in a quarantine tank at Sealife.
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It is hoped that once he has been cleaned up he will become a main attraction in one of the centre's tanks.
Mr Denny, managing director Lowestoft-based Anglia Fish Supplies, said: 'I have never seen a lobster that big before.
'At first I was going to put him back in the sea but then I thought that if he was caught again someone else may not be as considerate as me and sell him.'
Daz Gook, Sealife senior marine biologist, said the lobster had settled well into his new home and was enjoying eating squid.
He said: 'It is hard to estimate his age - but he could easily be 40.
'It is fair to say he is past his best.'
Last October Winkle the female lobster, who weighed 3kg, was donated to the centre by fisherman Andrew Moore of Felixstowe Ferry in Suffolk.
The two lobsters will not be put in the same tank together in case they attack each other during moulting.
European lobsters can live to 50.
