Fishermen were pinching themselves after they landed one of the biggest crabs ever caught off Britain – with claws the size of a human fist.
The monster edible crab – nicknamed Titan – was discovered in a lobster pot five miles off the coast of Falmouth in Cornwall.
It has a claw span of (60cm) 24 inches, a shell over 25cm (10ins) wide and contains four times more meat than the average crab.
But 8lb Titan will be spared the pot because of his size and has instead gone on display at the Blue Reef Aquarium in nearby Newquay.
Blue Reef curator Matt Slater said Titan is believed to be the largest known living specimen of edible crab in the UK.
He said: ”You often hear reports of giant crabs and take them with a pinch of salt. However, Titan really is a bit of a monster. He is a magnificent specimen.
”He’s twice as big as any other edible crab we have ever had at the aquarium. His claws alone are absolutely massive.
”Titan’s in fantastic condition and is quite feisty so you do have to take care when handling him.
”There’s no accurate way of working out how old he actually is – but judging on his size alone he must be close to 20 years, if not even older.”
Edible crabs use their giant claws to crush and tear its prey which includes a variety of shellfish such as mussels.
The largest individual caught in Britain was caught in 2008 by a diver at Lyme Bay, Dorset. It weighed 17lb and had a shell width of 12 inches.
Worst case of crab I’ve ever seen.