Much like you’d expect to find ducks in a row swimming along the Potomac River, a row of dead lobsters were found neatly washed up on the river’s shore in Leesylvania State Park in Woodbridge on Sunday.
Leesylvania Chief Ranger Sarah Phillips told InsideNova that a Chinese New Year tradition is likely the reason behind the lobsters’ mysterious appearance, as well as their sad demise:
“There is a local Asian church that releases what they believe to be their ancestors (lobsters, crabs, and other crustaceans) back into the water from where they came,” Phillips said. “Since this is a local observance of an Asian custom the temperatures are usually below freezing, and the crustaceans, which are normally used to much warmer waters typically wash up on the shoreline of the Potomac River.”
State biologists are concerned that the lobsters may have been carrying non-native, disease-ridden parasites that now could be in the river, according to WTOP.
