Catch one lobster, buy yourself an Audi with it? That’s within the realm of possibility for one fisherman who lucked out by catching “the god of lobsters.” The haul brought in £60,000, or more than $1,000 per pound of lobster.
Zheng Lee Pan recently pulled in a tropical rock lobster that weighed in at a stunning 56 lbs, and he knew that he had a haul that could net him a pretty penny. The lobster’s species is panulirus ornatus, and the “ornatus” part could refer to the creature’s remarkably vibrant coloring. Tropical rock lobsters can grow to massive size, and they’re remarkable for their multicolored exoskeletons.
Plenty of fishermen have caught rare lobsters , but it’s even rarer to run across one this big.
Tropical rock lobsters are highly valued as a dish, and they are one of the most popular edible types of lobster, as The Express notes . Attempts to breed tropical rock lobsters in captivity, though, have proven unsuccessful so far, and the species is only ever caught in the wild. When a big one is caught, they can go for big bucks.
The previous record-holding lobster was about 28 lbs, caught in the coastal city of Wenling, China, and sold at a fish market there.
Pan’s lobster haul, though, was a cut above the rest. Pan’s rainbow lobster was fully twice the size of the previous record holder, and it fetched a comparably gargantuan price at auction.
“[Bidders] were shouting out that it was the god of lobsters,” Pan said of the catch, “and I couldn’t believe it when the price just kept going up and up.”
The final tally: £60,000, or about $95,325. Pan is, understandably, going to use the proceeds to take a vacation.
The winning bidder for the massive lobster decided to remain anonymous. Another bidder, though, 32-year-old Fang Li, said that the bidding went so high because Pan’s lobster was truly extraordinary, with spectacular coloration and of a size that had truly never been seen before.
“They would certainly need a big pot to cook it,” she told the Express .