It Begins: Mutant, Six-Clawed Lobster Caught Near Massachusetts
A real-life kaiju, albeit a rather small one, was captured off the coast of Massachusetts last week in what is surely a sign of bigger monsters to come.
Nicknamed Lola by the crew of the fishing vessel Rachel Leah, the 10-year-old, six-clawed mutant lobster found near Hyannis has since been donated to the Maine State Aquarium for study and display.
"This claw deformity is a genetic mutation," said Aquarium Manager Aimee Hayden-Roderiques. "Sometimes they have this throughout their life, sometimes this happens during a regeneration from a damaged or lost claw."
Hayden-Roderiques said she has seen claw deformities before, but never a single lobster with six claws.
This is also the first time marine scientist David Libby of the Department of Marine Resources has seen such a creature.
"Sometimes the genes will just get a little mixed and it will grow a funny claw," he is quoted as telling the Bangor Daily News. "But I’ve never seen anything like this."
[H/T: GrindTV via The Laughing Squid, photo via Maine State Aquarium]