Plenty more fish in the sea! Lucky lobster is saved from the pot for SECOND time after being caught twice in two years by the same fishing boat
- A 4ft long lobster was caught twice by the same fishing boat in just two years
- The colossal crustacean is recognisable as it has a part missing from its claw
A lucky lobster has been saved from the pot for a second time after being caught by the same fishing boat twice in two years.
The huge crustacean, which is believed to be about 80-years-old, was first caught in 2021 off the south Wales coast.
The unnamed angler who caught the lobster was fishing on a shipwreck for Conger eel when the 4ft long lobster went for his squid bait.
The fisherman, however, decided that due to the sea creature’s age and size, it was only fair to return the animal to the sea.
The very same lobster has now been caught again in the same area, after angler Joshua Hearn pulled the crustacean up last week.
Fisherman Joshua Hearn (pictured) caught the 4-ft long lobster last week marking the second time the 80-year-old crustacean has been caught in just two years
The lobster was recognised as having been caught before due to having a part missing from its claw
He reeled it in and boat skipper Carl Bradley was stunned when he immediately recognised it as the one from two years ago.
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Mr Bradley was able to positively identify it as it was missing the tip of one of its cutting claws which had been snapped off, probably in a fight with another lobster.
Fisherman Mr Hearn had his photo taken with the colossus crustacean, taking care to keep his hands away from its enormous bone-crushing pincer claws.
He then threw the lobster, which estimated to have weighed about 10lbs (4.5kg) back into the water safe and well.
Mr Hearn, the skipper of the Swansea-based charter boat Blue Thunder, said: ‘On both occasions the lobster was caught in the same spot.
‘Joshua was fishing for Conger using rod and line. He didn’t know what he had caught at first. As he reeled it in he thought it might be a spider crab.. I said ‘that’s no crab, that’s a lobster.’
‘I helped him get it in the landing net and I could tell straight away it was the same lobster. The tip of its top cutting claw was missing just like the one from two years ago.
Boat skipper Carl Bradley (pictured) recognised the huge lobster due its distinctive claw
The fishermen decided it was only fair to return the lobster to the sea due to its size and age
‘It has spent about 80 years living on the seabed, it is only right it should be allowed to see out its remaining days there.
‘You can’t kill a creature like that.
‘We are not saying exactly where it is because we don’t want another fisherman to come along and catch it and decide to kill it.
‘Besides, at that age and size the lobster meat will be very leathery and not nice to eat.
‘I thought it was about 50-years-old but others reckon it must be at least 80.
‘However old it is, it must be a very lucky lobster.’
The biggest ever lobster caught in UK waters was a 20lbs specimen caught off Fowey in Cornwall in 1931.
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