Two-toned Lobster Caught off Monhegan Island, Maine

Photo via the Huffington Post.

Every so often, fishermen will catch something weird and wonderful in their traps.  Last week, a fisherman off Monhegan Island, Maine caught a two-toned lobster shown in the above picture.  Ben Murdock, a 30-year-old lobsterman and captain of the fishing vessel Arielle Hope, caught this lobster, took a picture of it, then released it back into the ocean as it did not meet the legal size requirements.  As Ben's brother Kyle said, "No matter how rare, a good lobsterman throws back an illegal lobster."

The practice of catching, photographing and then releasing unique lobsters is common up and down the coast of Maine.  When I was growing up, before the days of mobile phones, if a fisherman caught a unique lobster, he would bring it into the dock so his fellow fishermen could catch a glimpse of it and someone could take a picture of it, then he would release is back into the wild sea. The cover of my book includes a picture of a jumbo lobster caught by Cutler fisherman Josh Cates.  Josh brought the gigantic lobster into the dock so it could be photographed before returning it to the ocean.  I also have a family photo of my brother and I down at the dock, standing next to an enormous lobster my father caught (thought I've been reluctant to post it due to the horrendous 80's hair style I was sporting at the time)!

Jumbo lobster caught in Cutler.  Photo from Laurie Cates.

Finally, in addition to catching gigantic and uniquely colored lobsters, every so often a fishermen will catch a lobster with an extra claw or two.  Several years ago, I wrote a blog post about this four clawed lobster caught off the coast of Wells Maine.  If you have any pictures of unique lobsters you've caught or seen, I'd love to see them!

A four clawed lobster caught in Wells Maine.