Discover The Largest Lobster Ever Found in Florida (It Was Over 100 Years Old!)

Key Points:

• A lobster has a hard exoskeleton, eight legs, and two pincers that also operate as legs. Lobsters are classified as decapods for being ten-footed animals.
• Lobsters in North America flourish in the cold coastal Atlantic waters from North Carolina all the way to Canada. The Caribbean spiny lobster and spotted spiny lobster do well in the warmer waters of the Caribbean and the Florida Keys.
• In 2016, Larry the Lobster was saved from becoming someone’s meal when the restauranteur recognized its enormous size. Estimated to be over 100 years old, this lobster broke the record for the largest ever found in Florida.

Lobster is a popular delicacy all over the world that can be quite expensive. Every year in the United States alone $300 million worth of this delicious crustacean is harvested, and Florida is a prime area to trap lobsters. This is a species that can range greatly in size based on its age. The largest ever found in Florida was estimated to be over 100 years old . . . and he narrowly avoided celebrating his birthday as someone’s lobster dinner! Read on to discover more about lobsters and a dignified senior of the species affectionately named “Larry.”

All About Lobsters

Lobsters are oceanic crustaceans that are found all over the world. In North America, they particularly flourish in the cold Atlantic waters off the coast of Canada down to North Carolina. However, two species flourish in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys: The Caribbean spiny lobster and the spotted spiny lobster.

Lobsters typically weigh 2-15 pounds and range from 8-24 inches long. They have hard exoskeletons, eight legs, and two pincers. Amazingly, because those pincers are also considered legs, lobsters are classified as decapods: ten-footed creatures! Another little-known fact is that lobsters only turn bright red when cooked; living lobsters vary in color shades of blue, green, and brown. They are bottom-dwelling creatures, hiding in rock crevices, burrowing in sand and camouflaging themselves for hunting and protection from predators. They’re quite smart, being able to identify other lobsters they have seen before as part of a social hierarchy.

Lobsters are solitary and tend to stay hidden in the day, venturing out at night to hunt. They are omnivores, feeding on fish, crustaceans, and mollusks, worms and some undersea vegetation. They can also be cannibalistic, eating their own species when overcrowded. Lobsters have an important environmental role, especially in maintaining the health of kelp forests. Kelp is an important source of food and shelter for oceanic fish. Lobsters prey on kelp-consuming species such as sea urchins. Without them, urchins can completely consume kelp forests and leave behind biomes with far less diversity of species.

Larry the Lobster, Saved from Dinner

Lobsters are usually caught with one-way traps that attract the creature with bait into a funnel they can’t escape from once they’ve entered. Traps are lowered 15-1,000 feet deep into the ocean, left for a few days, and then pulled back up to the surface to check them. Commercially fished lobster is then sold to restaurants or seafood markets where they are often maintained alive in tanks until cooked, usually by boiling or steaming them alive.

Obviously, this is a controversial practice as it is seen by many people as a uniquely cruel practice for an animal that has a sensitive nervous system and can take 45 seconds to die in boiling water. Another side of the argument is that toxic bacteria in lobsters and other shellfish are killed most effectively by boiling the creature alive than when it is killed and cooked later.

It was from this sad end that Larry the Lobster was saved in 2016. Delivered to the Tin Fish restaurant, Larry weighed a whopping 15 pounds when ordered by a group of diners, Chef Dennis Alvarez recognized this was a record-breaker and offered the customers a 14-pound fish instead. Store owner Joe Melluso estimated Larry to be up to 105 years old when interviewed by the media about the find. Hearing the story, Amir Rossi and a group of friends paid Melluso $300 to save this elderly crustacean and have him returned to the ocean for a chance at an even longer life.

Lobsters: Fishing and Conservation

The best places to catch lobster in Florida include Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami. In south Florida, it is legal to go lobster fishing after the sun has gone down. This gives fishermen extra time in the day to find and catch lobster as they become more active at night. Lobster fishing season in Florida runs from August 6-March 31. It has a daily bag limit of six bags per person.

Lobsters below 3 inches in size must be released back into the water. In addition, you must also possess a recreational saltwater fishing license and a spiny lobster permit. Fortunately, lobsters are not considered at risk for extinction. The greatest risk to the species is overfishing. Regulations keep the population at healthy levels, so lobsters can continue to perform their valuable roles in the environment.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © OSDG/Shutterstock.com