CHATHAM — On Thursday, a 22-pound lobster named Big Lobi scuttled away to freedom after twin brothers from New Jersey bought it at the Chatham Fish Pier Market and released it into Ryder's Cove.
On Saturday afternoon, Big Lobi was found dead.
Ray Wilkes, a retiree from Chatham, had just moored his boat in Ryder’s Cove after a day of fishing and whale watching when a large shape caught his eye near the shore.
“I was paddling back in a dinghy and saw a large thing over there in the muck,” he said.
He picked up the mysterious object and realized it was one of the biggest lobsters he had ever seen, he said. He took some pictures of the deceased crustacean and sent them to the Center for Coastal Studies.
Cathrine Macort, executive assistant at the center, responded with a link to a Times article about a 22-pound lobster that was released in Ryder’s Cove just two days earlier and speculated that the giant dead crustacean was the same one.
