Richard Mesce, a Northen California man with a passion for extremely large filter-feeding shellfish, has discovered an 80-year-old, 13-inch long oyster in the muddy Humboldt Bay. Mesce, a retired pilot, has spent the past six years patrolling in his kayak, searching for an oyster that would shatter the current Guinness World Record.

The oyster, which at 13 inches long and 6 inches wide is about 12 times the size of your normal $1-oyster happy hour variety, was independently measured by an oceanographer from Humboldt State University and measures about one inch longer than the current massive mollusk record holder.

If the Guinness folks confirm the staggering shellfish is the world's largest, Humboldt State has agreed to keep it alive in their aquarium where it will be protected from scores of hungry Hog Island fans and until it becomes even more enormous and terrifying.

[AP/KTVU]