He'd be too tough to eat, anyway.

We have size limits here -- if a lobster is too small or too large, it MUST be released. This is why our lobster industry is so healthy -- the large lobsters are all considered breeders, and are allowed to live wild to a ripe old age and die a natural death. So we maintain our breeding stock into perpetuity.

By its front claws.

I think they know what they are doing.

Those claws can take off your finger.

Lobsters are tough critters -- pull off a claw, and they won't die (unless by another lobster.)

Also, let's not forget they're cannibals. The real reason to band the claws is to keep them from killing each other in the traps.

old age or lobster bake is there a difference?

is what I meant!

The State of Maine has very strict laws governing lobstering. Lobster traps may not be hauled at night and on Sundays during June through August in Maine waters (since 1967). In Maine it is illegal to keep lobsters under and over a certain size. Lobstermen use a special gauge to accurately measure the length of the lobster’s carapace (body)–from the eye socket to the beginning of the tail to ensure legal compliance. The legal minimum length is 3 1/4 inches. Lobsters under this length are call “shorts” or snappers” and must be thrown back into the ocean. Minimum sizes are enforced to make sure that lobsters are mature enough to breed at least once before they are harvested. When a female egg-bearing lobster is found, it is required by Maine law that a v-shaped notch be placed in the right tail flipper before releasing the lobster, in order to protect her so that she may continue to reproduce.

The maximum legal length of a lobster is 5 inches carapace-length; which are called “jumbos”. The maximum size limit is regulated to protect the breeding stock. A minimum size lobster will weigh around 1 pound, while a maximum size lobster will weigh between 3-4 pounds. The most plentiful and most popular size of Maine Lobster is between 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 pounds each.

http://www.lobsteranywhere.com/lobster-101/

having lobster on her birthday if we could afford it and she always wanted the biggest one, now i am both smiling and kinda sad at the same time if ya know what i mean.

Glad to hear about the "maximum size" laws in Maine too. Makes sense to let the elders go.

Plus, it's just cooler that way. Anything that's lived that long has earned being left alone by the likes of us.

Megalobster!

Amazing creature.

Thank you for turning that copious crustacean loose! Wow, what a lobster! My dad would've swooned!

But i don't believe in age discrimination. I got a pot of steam and butter and it can handle him nicely. I can sleep at night with my conscience clear if I et' that bad boy!

Your hands and feet are banded. His claws aren't.

There's this fella, 27#: http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_news/2012/02/largest-lobster-ever-caught-in-maine-has-claws-that-can-break-your-arm-1.html

And I think one that was north of 40# was caught in Canadian waters. These things live a long time, if you let 'em.

Lobster is an expensive excuse to eat melted butter.

That's it, nothing more to be said.