Aquarium offers safe haven for Hook, the giant lobster

A giant lobster which is nearly a metre long has been saved from the pot by Cornish fisherman, Garry Matthews.

Garry caught the massive lobster on his rod and line, while angling for Rays with friends in the Falmouth estuary.  "It was the last thing I expected to pull up on my line." said Garry.  "I felt something tugging at the bait and battled with what I thought was a large ray for quite a while."

The lobster was hooked after chasing an easy meal on the end of Mr Matthews fishing line.  The hook got caught fast in the lobsters claw.  Mr Matthews could not remove the hook after landing the crustacean so he snipped off the fishing line and took it to experts at the Blue Reef Aquarium.

Displays Curator, Matt Slater was stunned when he saw the size of Hook and even more surprised when he heard how he was caught.  "I've seen some big lobsters brought in by fishermen, but never one as big as Hook caught on rod and line." said Matt, "he's probably about 50-60 years old.

"It's important to get the hook our of the claws of crustaceans as soon as possible before the lobster goes into shock and loses his claw or his life." added Matt "Garry certainly did the right thing by bringing Hook in for us to treat"

Aquarists say that Hook is making a speedy recovery and with his fierce nature is certainly living up to his namesake of Captain Hook the fictional pirate.

Hook has got a bit of growing to do before he beats the world record lobster, trapped off the coast of Canada in 1977, measuring 106 centimetres (3ft 5inches) long.  It was estimated to be more than 100 years old.

Lobsters have two different types of claw, a large crusher and a small pincher.  The crusher claw can be on either the right or left side and it is believed that whichever claw the lobster first uses to grab a piece of food is the one that will develop into the crusher.