95-Year-Old Lobster Spared: New York Restaurant Donates Rare Crustacean To Aquarium

An enormous 23-pound lobster, believed to be at least 95-years-old, won’t be getting served up on anyone’s plate. The rare crustacean will live out the rest of his long life at an aquarium, confirmed the owner of the service that supplies lobsters.

Jordan Lobster Farms in Island Park, Long Island, stocks 30,000 pounds of Maine lobsters and frozen Brazilian lobster tails, and a 23-pounder would have been a great addition to the inventory. But the owner had a change of heart when he learned about the rarity of the sea creature and, more importantly, its age. Stephen Jordan, the kind-hearted owner of the establishment, was informed about the unusual catch while unloading a shipment crate this week.

The experienced fisherman shared it was not possible to determine the exact age of the lobster, but judging by its enormous weight, one could safely guess the lobster to be about 95-years-old. When an ordinary lobster weighs a few pounds max, it is certainly amazing to find one that weighs 23 pounds, reported 10 News.

The lobster has become a celebrity of sorts, with people lining up to have their photos taken with the rare crustacean.

Speaking about the creature, lobsterman Jordan said, “One of our fishermen sent it down and said, ‘Oh, you gotta look, I have a surprise in one of the crates. We opened it up and were like, ‘Holy Jesus!’ We haven’t seen one for ten to fifteen years that big.”

The lobster was caught in the Bay of Fundy in Canada. The crustacean has become so popular that Jordan decided he couldn’t sell the lobster to be eventually eaten.

“Everyone here is calling him Claws instead of Jaws. One claw must weigh 14 pounds.”

So instead of selling him as seafood, Jordan has decided to donate the lobster to the Long Island Aquarium to live out the rest of his life in peace, reported ABC News.

“They’ll take good care of him. He was a little stressed out yesterday. It was a lot of action, so we have him in his own apartment in the back and we’ve been feeding him well. We’ll give him another day to recover.”

Referring to the rare sea creature, Jordan likened him to the super-large creatures that roamed the earth during the Jurassic era and explained his intention of giving it to the aquarium.

“It’s almost like a dinosaur. You’d like to see it continue on and I think they would take good care of it.”

[Image Credit | CBS New York WCBS via Jordan Lobster Farms]