Lucky Lobster Avoids Dinner Plate, Lands In New Home At New York Aquarium
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An 18-pound American lobster won't become dinner after all.
After more than seven decades in the sea, he'll be spending the rest of his life at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island.
The massive crustacean was caught by a fisherman off the coast of Canada and was sent to a San Francisco seafood distributer, destined for a dinner plate.
But when the distributer saw the size of the sea creature, he didn't want to doom the lobster to death.
So the distributer starting making calls and soon got in touch with the New York Aquarium.
"When we saw that ad for an 18-pound American lobster, we knew we had to have it," Jon Forrest Dohlin, Director of the New York Aquarium, said in a statement.
The aquarium says the 18-pound monster is the largest lobster ever to live at the Coney Island facility.
Officials say based on his size, this lucky lobster is an astounding 75-years-old, adding he eats about three-quarters of a pound of shrimp and fish a day.
They say the oldest lobster ever recorded was caught in 1977 off the coast of Nova Scotia and lived to be more than 180-years-old.
You can see the newest addition to the aquarium's family at the Sea Cliffs exhibit along with other marine animals like walrus and sea lions.
For more information, visit http://nyaquarium.com.
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