Holy Lobster!!

Everyone was so excited!

Alright, everyone, you're never going to believe what happened last week! I mean really, if I did not have pictures to prove it, you would think this whole blog is a lie. Have you ever heard of a lobster that was too big to keep?! I have heard of lobsters being too small and of course, we let them go every time but I didn't know a lobster being too big was even a possibility!

Our day started with some programming at Atlantic Wharf. We welcomed the South Boston Neighborhood House and through various activities, we taught them about Boston Harbor. We spent the day fishing, drawing a giant sea life mural, setting crab traps, singing sea shanties, and creating fish prints for children to take home. Our day was going great, we could not have imagined it getting any better.

As we wrapped up our activities Boloco delivered lunch for all the children and staff. What a better way than to end your day with free burritos, right?! As we began eating I mentioned the two traps that were still in the water and how we need to remember to pull them up before we leave. Sam exclaimed, "I'll go pull them up now!", and thank goodness she did. 

The claw was almost as big as my head!

She pulled up the crab trap to find nothing in it. We thought, "it is so low tide it is no surprise we did not catch much today". She pulled up the second trap, a circle trap with a net attached to it. The net needs to be pulled up at the right time to trap creatures inside or they will crawl out. As soon as the trap reached the surface Sam was screaming, "You need to get over here right now!". From far away I saw that it was a lobster and was very excited but as I got closer I noticed that it was HUGE! Everyone said the only place they have ever seen a lobster that size was in the aquarium. We measured the lobster and were unfortunately told that from its eye to the beginning of the tail had to be 5 inches. Ours was almost 6! Although it was very sad that we could not keep the lobster it was still amazing to have seen something like that. That day is one that I will remember forever!

This was not our lobster but this is how to correctly measure a lobster.
Unfortunately, this one is not large enough to keep.

Well, I'm off to find a lobster I can cook this time!

Catch ya later!

Briana