"Bubba" (22 Pound Lobster) Could Be Older Than Warner Bros., Boy Scouts

[matcom]

<snip>

PITTSBURGH -- He could be older than Warner Bros. studio, General Motors, the Boy Scouts and the states of Arizona and New Mexico. He could have survived two world wars and Prohibition. He could have been dinner.

He's Bubba, a 22-pound leviathan of a lobster pulled from the waters off Nantucket, Mass., and shipped to a Pittsburgh fish market. The lobster has been kept in a tank near a fish counter in Wholey's Market since Thursday while owner Bob Wholey tried to figure out what to do with it.

"It is overwhelming," Wholey said. "If you see it, you will never forget it. Customers are just in awe."

On Tuesday, Wholey gave the lobster to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, which will send him to an aquarium at a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum.

Based on how long it typically takes a lobster to reach eating size -- about five to seven years to grow to a pound -- some estimate Bubba is 100 years old.

That would make the crustacean older than Warner Bros. (1907), the Boy Scouts (1910) and the states of Arizona and New Mexico (1912), not to mention the first commercial radio station (1920), television (1927) and computers (1943).

Bob Bayer, executive director of the University of Maine's Lobster Institute, is skeptical and estimates that Bubba is likely 50 years old, but doesn't know for sure. Warm water and plenty of food may have more to do with a lobster's size than how long it's been alive.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2005/03/01/no_butter_for_bubba_the_22_pound_lobster/

[Cooley Hurd]

1. How do they know it's that old?

Is it sporting a handlebar moustache and mutton chops?:shrug:

[ClintonTyree]

2. I have a pot that could accommodate "Bubba"................

if they really can't find a place for him. Granted, it a big damn pot, it takes up the entire range top, all four burners. But I'd make "Bubba" right at home there, gradually turning up the heat to make sure he stays warm. ;)

Yep, "Bubba" and I could get to be real good friends, for a while. :9

[montana_hazeleyes]

3. I'm just happy they're not

going to eat him.

[bleedingheart]

4. Wholey's is a really cool fish market...

[underpants]

5. Should be just right for eating about now

Pass the butter.

:evilgrin:

That is amazing.

[underpants]

6. Picture of Bubba

Bubba, left, a 23-pound lobster pulled from the waters off Nantucket, Mass., is in a tank beside your average 1.5 pound lobster at Wholey's fish market in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, March, 1, 2005. The big crustacean received a reprieve from being dinner and will be moving off to the Pittsburgh Zoo. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Well, thank God they're keeping it from its natural habitat!

That would just be . . . crazy.

:silly: :silly: :silly: :silly: :silly:

How awful. NOw, I love lobster, and have no problem pullin' 'em apart to eat 'em, so this isn't some idiot PETA screed. But a giant like that - he could be a hell of a breeder. They should put him back in the ocean. Or if nothing else, he's old and honorable and just for that, deserves to go back to his home.

How would you like to have had the all the ocean as your terrain for 100 years, and then be put in a box with a bunch of idiot humans looking at you all day?

[bleedingheart]

8. well if the food, salary and benefits are good...I wouldn't mind

:silly:

[Lady Freedom]

9. Look at this monster!!!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Fish: "If I can just bite away that bikini I'll die happy." (nt)

[Lady Freedom]

14. heheh!!!

:evilgrin: you devil!!!

[sniffa]

10. pinchy

remember him?

[ronnykmarshall]

11. Cousin of Stampy?

[WindRavenX]

12. One of my favorite episodes

NT