A 15-pound lobster was released into the water after living in the lobster tank at Angelica's Restaurant in Bethlehem for a month. The restaurant's owner, Fred Cunha, had bought Monstro from a fishing boat in mid-October.

Monstro is 37 inches and has 15-inch claws. Cunha estimates that he is 50 years old. A lobster so large and old is no ordinary thing.

Half the customers at Angelica's wanted to eat Monstro, and the other half pitied him. Cunha decided to auction him off so the winner could decide on the lobster's fate. He sold tickets for a dollar each until he had collected $150 - Monstro's retail price.

Cunha's 7-year-old daughter, Angelica, was strongly on the side of freeing Monstro.

"She was really worried," Cunha told the AP. "She really wanted him to go free."

When Angelica drew the winning ticket last Friday, Claire Lupton of Whitefield was chosen. Luckily for Angelica, and Monstro, Lupton is not a lobster eater. She said a lobster that big and old shouldn't be eaten anyway, and Monstro was sent back to sea.