Celebrity Lobsters, Part 2
As we continue our look at Lobsters You May Have Heard Of, we introduce you this week to Bubba the Lobster.
In what might be the most widely known unwritten rule in America, people and animals named “Bubba” are expected to be of significant size. Though there are likely a good number of small men in the south named Bubba, we’re betting that most Bubbas you meet will be big, or tall, or both.
So it should come as no surprise that when a massive lobster was pulled from the Atlantic in 2005, it should be given the name Bubba. Bubba the Lobster’s 15 minutes of fame began immediately after he was trapped off the coast of Nantucket in 2005, his sheer size stunning all witnesses and creating a brief news and internet buzz.
Bubba tipped the scales at 23 pounds and was estimated to be anywhere between 100 and 4,000 years old. Okay, really, he was estimated to be as much 100 years old, but it’s truly anyone’s guess. Without the ability to check his birth certificate, we’d just as soon assume that he was 4,000 years old, even though we know that lobsters don’t live that long, and even though actual scientists approximated his age at closer to 30-40 years old.
Now, most people’s first inclination would be to turn their hot tub up to 212 degrees and convert Bubba into a lobster feast. In truth, though, 100 year old lobsters are far more intriguing to look at than they are tasty to eat. More youthful lobsters make tastier lobster tails.
Nonetheless, Bubbba made for compelling news as people marveled at his size, which was especially striking when Bubba was in the company of an average sized lobster. As would be expected, though, PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals) intervened…no, not because Bubba was making common lobsters suffer serious self-esteem issues, but because Bubba’s captivity seemed a cruel fate for a lobster that had dwelled at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for 4,000 100 30-40 years. PETA began pressuring for Bubba’s release. But others had different plans. For example, the other PETA (yes, People Eating Tasty Animals) had an idea that involved steam and drawn butter, and Ripley’s Believe It or Not lobbied to keep Bubba alive and house him at their museum in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In the end, however, nobody got what they wanted from Bubba The Lobster. En route to Ripley’s, Bubba died while at the Pittsburgh Zoo. While an autopsy to determine the cause of death was performed, the results do not appear to have been released. But before any of you conspiracy theorists get any big ideas, we would like to remind you that Bubba was a 4,000 year-old lobster tipping the scales at 23 pounds and being transported slowly (by truck) along the Atlantic seaboard in order to be one of the stars in a veritable freak show. Either the trip was too traumatic for Bubba or Bubba chose to avoid his fate by checking out early.
We think Bubba knew exactly what he was doing.
Check back next week as we bring you the next feature in our series of celebrity lobsters lobsters you may have heard of.
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