Gary Higgins/The Patriot Ledger

An 18-pound lobster caught off the coast of Massachusetts has been returned to sea.

The lobster was caught by Joby Norton, the owner of Mullaney's Fish Market in Scituate, Mass., in an offshore trawler.

"We've had people come in who wanted to buy him for the Fourth, but we decided we don't want to sell him," Norton told The Patriot Ledger. "We're better off letting him go so he can live out his life."

Lobsters typically weigh 1.5 pounds according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.