Great Britain: Diver catches giant crab (OF COURSE there are pictures :-))

The Crawley Observer (UK) / Various ^ | July 2, 2008

[Stoat]

Diver catches giant crab

 

A giant crab with a shell 12in wide has been caught by an Aylesbury diver off the UK coast.

The crustacean, weighing 17lb and with a claw span of 9in, was found by diver Paul Worsley during a recent diving trip in Lyme Regis, Dorset.

Douglas Lanfear, who runs the dive boat Blue Turtle, said he was amazed at the size of the crab.

He said: "It was truly a monster. It was the biggest crab I have ever seen in all my years and there were fishermen who have been working here for 30 years and they said they hadn't seen anything like it.

"The claws were absolutely huge - as big as my hands - and if you got your finger caught, it would take it off."

Mr Lanfear said the crab was caught on the wreck site of the warship the Empress of India, which was sunk off Portland as a gunnery target in 1913.

He said: "It was caught 13 miles off shore, I don't know why it was so big but probably just because of age. It had managed to escape the fishermen somehow and reach this great size - it was big enough to feed 10 people."

In May, a 36in long lobster with claws 8in long and 4in wide was caught by another diver from Mr Lanfear's boat.

[Stoat]

Pictured Monster crab with claws the size of a man's hand captured off the British coast Mail Online

 

Claws for concern: Paul Worsley gets to grips with the giant crab he caught in Lyme Regis harbour

Moby click: The giant crab can break a man's fingers with its claws

 

Cracking: The crab's claws are the size of a man's hands

For his efforts, he can congratulate himself on capturing what experts believe is the biggest edible crab ever landed.

(edit)

The previous largest edible crab on record is in the collection of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Its carapace was 11in wide.

(edit)

Unfortunately, Mr Worsley's crab will not be displayed in any museum. A friend has eaten it.
 

Giant crab landed in British waters - Telegraph

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Worsley proudly shows off his record catch

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More Giant Crab News.....

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Russian 'Red Army' of Monster Crabs Heads West

[Stoat]

[livius]

Yipes! That’s one brave crabber! Hope it tasted good.

[Stoat]

Yipes! That’s one brave crabber!

Indeed! From the linked Telegraph article:

• He spotted the crustacean on a boiler on the wreck of the Empress of India, which lies around 160 feet beneath the surface and ten miles off the coast. But the crab was so large that he could barely carry it to the surface.

  It has a claw span of nine inches - big enough to break a man's finger. Mr Worsley added: "It put up quite a fight but I managed to get it in to a bag and attached it to a buoy to lift it to the surface.

I've done some scuba diving in my day, but I'm not so sure that if I were to be diving a wreck and saw something like this crawling around that my first reaction would be: "Yes! I want to take that with me! Come 'ere big guy!"

 

 Hope it tasted good.

For his family and several neighbors perhaps!

Also from the Telegraph:

"It's going to provide a lot of meat - enough to feed at least 10 people."

[Brainhose]

I caught crabs in England once. They were very tiny though, these buggers would really make you itch.

[SkyPilot]

The thread just cries out for this picture:

[riverrunner]

Pass the butter please.:)

[Safetgiver]

And I thought I had a bad case of crabs, once.

[bleach]

I feel a Helen Thomas appearance coming.

[JRios1968]

[arderkrag]

Hello, breakfast.

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, if people don't like the tuna, they can change the crustacean.

MANGLED GENITALS PING

Thanks Stoat.

[Slings and Arrows]

In other news, "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" is missing a host.

[Slings and Arrows]

Paris Hilton wants that thing back.

[Grizzled Bear]

You should have stayed away from Madonna.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Must be FreakinNews won't allow hotlinking.
I was curious, so hope you don't mind if I post it.

[Daffynition]

Yep.

[Crawdad]

I got a bunch of those on Spring Break in Panama City in 1977.

[Stoat]

So sorry!  I searched FIVE TIMES before I posted and NOTHING relevant came up.  The search functions used to work so much better around here.

"sigh"

[Stoat]

Hello, breakfast.

 

Breakfast of Crab
1648; Oil on canvas; The Hermitage at St. Petersburg

Heda, Willem Claesz. (1593/94-1680/82). Dutch still-life painter, active in Haarlem. He and Pieter Claesz. are the most important representatives of ontbijt (breakfast piece) painting in the Netherlands. His overall grey-green or brownish tonalities are very similar to those of Claesz., but Heda's work was usually more highly finished and his taste was more aristocratic. He showed a preference for ham, mince-meat pie, and oysters, and after 1629 never included a herring in his pictures. His son Gerrit (d. 1702) was his most important pupil.

WebMuseum Heda, Willem Claesz.