It's certainly not a typical sight on Vancouver beaches, or anywhere on the West Coast, in fact: The carcass of a large lobster, native to the Atlantic Ocean, with claws almost as big as a man's size 11 shoe.

"I saw it from far away, and thought, 'Wow, that's a lobster,'" said Damon Gudaitis, who spotted a dog walker pick it from the surf while walking in New Brighton Park in East Vancouver last week.

Gudaitis, curious what the alien crustacean was doing there, snapped a picture of the lobster and sent it to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He didn't hear back, but local biologists have offered a likely explanation.

And before you break out the garlic butter, it doesn't appear to be a human meal thrown overboard: cooked lobster turns bright red, and the huge claws — which hold tasty meat — were left intact.

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