07/21/2026
A giant lobster sitting in a restaurant tank was about to become someone's dinner.
Instead, it got a second chance.
When Connecticut resident Don MacKenzie spotted the enormous 17-pound lobster, nicknamed "Lucky Larry," he learned it was estimated to be between 80 and 100 years old. While it's impossible to know a lobster's exact age, experts agreed it was exceptionally old and one of the largest many people had ever seen.
MacKenzie decided he couldn't let a creature that had survived for so many decades end its journey on a dinner plate.
He bought the lobster—not to eat it, but to save it.
MacKenzie later released Lucky Larry into the Atlantic Ocean, saying an animal that had likely lived through events as remarkable as two World Wars, the Moon landing, and generations of history deserved the chance to keep living.
Stories like Lucky Larry's also highlight an interesting scientific fact. Unlike fish, lobsters don't have structures that reveal their exact age, so estimates are based on their size and growth rates. That means Larry's true age will never be known with certainty, but there was no doubt he was an extraordinary survivor.
Sometimes the greatest catch isn't the one you bring home.
It's the one you choose to set free.
© Wonders Of Animals
