Giant Crab May Have Pinched Record Title

2:57pm UK, Wednesday April 21, 2010
James Davies, Sky News Online

A giant deep-sea crab snared by a Cornish fisherman could be the largest ever found in British waters, experts have said.

The rare box crab, normally found at depths of up to two miles, was caught 80 miles west of the Isles of Scilly by skipper Matthew Keast who was fishing for turbot.

The creature has been nicknamed Spud because of its potato-like body.

At more than 3ft 3in long, it is believed to be only the eighth of its kind to be brought up from the depths since 1900.

The species is the largest found in the UK, and can reach lengths of up to 6ft 6ins.

The Blue Reef Aquarium, in Newquay, Cornwall, is now looking after the crab in a specially chilled tank, where staff are feeding him on a diet of rotten starfish.

The aquarium's manager, David Waines told Sky News: "It's one of the oddest crabs I've ever seen.

"It looks like something from another planet.

"It has weird eyes on stalks which look like bicycle handlebars and a strange pair of backward facing pincers."

He explained: "A crab like this would normally be found very deep on the edge of the continental shelf which runs from Morocco to Ireland at depths of 3,000 metres."

Due to the great depths at which they lurk, relatively little is known about giant box crabs but it is thought they feed on dead fish they find on the seabed.

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