Unique catch
Lobster with odd-shaped claw caught by Malpeque-area crew
MALPEQUE – It was a catch to remember for a veteran fisherman.
Chris Wall, who fishes out of Malpeque, recently caught what he described as a unique lobster.
“It almost had a second shape claw growing off one of the claws,” explained Wall, who added the catch was made in 60 feet of water or so. “I have handled a lot of lobsters myself and I have never caught a blue lobster, but I have caught a split lobster a few years ago, which was half red on one side and natural colour on the other side.
“At the time I put it back, but I didn’t realize that type of lobster is one in 50 million where the blue lobster is one in two million.”
Wall and crew “all had a little chuckle” when they first looked at their recent catch.
“We have seen lots of oddshaped claws,” Wall said. “A lot of people do not see them, I guess, but sometimes you get them when they might have to go back or be undersized. It was one of the more unique ones that I had.”
Wall is no stranger to seeing different-shaped lobsters.
“You see lots of deformities and injuries and stuff to some of the lobster,” said Wall. “Certainly, in my 25, 26 years fishing, that was one of the odder ones I have had.”
Wall did not keep the lobster.
“It’s gone to be processed,” he added. “I am not sure what became of it, but it’s gone to New Brunswick. It got to get a truck ride anyway.
“I am sure other fishermen may have pictures of something similar. I’ve had similar to that one, but that one was a little more pronounced than most I have had over the years.”
For Wall, catches like this are one of the great things about fishing.
“A couple of years ago I caught a lobster that was actually tagged in Souris 18 months before and I caught it up here,” said Wall.