Stuffed marlin makes waves in Cape's Red Lobster

On Tuesday, there was talk of The Big Fish's arrival among the employees at Red Lobster in Cape Girardeau.

Some thought service manager Janet Sneathen and others were talking about a company big-wig, but alas, it was just a marlin.

A 14-foot, 8-inch marlin.

A Cape Girardeau doctor's catch has seen the best and worst of times here. It once was displayed proudly in one of the city's finer restaurants, Mollie's, but also was shoved to the back room of an antique store.

Now it has apparently found a place to stay.

Last September, while taking photos for the City of Roses Music Festival, Sneathen entered the Brick Street Gallery, a downtown antique store.

When she peeked in the warehouse at the back, she saw the huge, oceanic creature.

"It was lying on the floor with a bunch of junk around it," Sneathen said. "They said it had been at Mollie's, and the new owners didn't want it."

The fish was caught and is still owned by Dr. Richard Kies of the Kies Eye Center. He was out of town Wednesday, a day after the marlin was delivered by a sign company across town on a flatbed truck to the seafood restaurant.

Sneathen said when she originally saw it, she thought it was a shame the marlin was collecting dust in storage. But she didn't give it much thought until a family approached Red Lobster last month about displaying a sailfish too big for their home.

But that's another fish's story.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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