Is this a bad omen for the season? The Seattle Aquarium’s big marketing mascot during the Seahawks’ ascent to the world championship last season has retired, the aquarium announced Wednesday.

Hermit crab Marshawn Pinch – teammate of Mussel Wilson, Richard Sturgeon and Golden Skate – became a Seattle Aquarium icon last year as the 12th crustacean, complete with Twitter and Facebook pages. He also blogged several times, chronicling the “Searocks'” successes from under his “shelmet.”

The blog post announcing Marshawn Pinch’s “retirement” gave no details about why he hung up his shelmet, but did mention that he “came out of his shell one last time to encourage all his sea fans to rally around the Seahawks on dry land this season.”

Well, now we’re getting verklempt.

Correction: This Sept. 4 post initially reported that Marshawn Pinch died, but that is not the case. Though we didn’t hear back from the Seattle Aquarium right away to find out what happened to Marshawn Pinch, we finally heard from them Sept. 9 – they said Marshawn is alive and well and had only retired. The aquarium’s web and social media person who relayed Marshawn Pinch’s messages will soon go on maternity leave, according to an aquarium spokesperson.