Larry the lobster was minutes away from being turned into a hundred dollar dish, but thanks to people with a heart for animals, the crustacean was saved.

According to a Miami Herald report, Larry was found in the Tin Fish restaurant in Florida. Joe Melluso, the owner of the restaurant, bought Larry from a seafood supplier for $200.

"We could feel bad about it, but when I saw him today I figured that I'd rather be the guy to buy him and have him in my restaurant than someone else," Melluso told Local 10 News.

Larry caught the attention of seafood afficionados and a man from the town reserved him for dinner on the same week. Fortunately, Larry also caught the attention of animal lovers.

Amir Rossi was browsing the web when he saw the post about the massive lobster. Out of concern for the lobster, he immediately contacted his friends and John Merritt, founder of animal rescue organization iRescue Wildlife, to inform them about Larry's situation.

Merritt immediately contacted Melluso to tell him he would buy the lobster to set in free in Maine, where the lobster was originally found.

A day before Larry was about to be made into a buttery dish, Rossi and his friends arived at the restaurant. Larry was successfully saved from the pot and shipped from the restaurant to the Maine State Aquarium, where Larry will spend the rest of his remaining days.

The Daily Mail said Larry weighs 15 pounds and is three times as big as an average lobster. The largest lobster recorded weighed 44.4 pounds and was between 3 to 4 feet long. It was caught off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada.

The National Geographic notes that lobsters generate a multibillion-dollar industry, with more than 200,000 tons (181,436 metric tons) of annual global catch, resulting in decline in commercial lobster's population.

Tags Lobster, Crustaceans, Florida, animals, marine animals

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