A lucky lobster has been rescued from fate for the second time after being caught twice in two years by the same fishing boat.
The giant crustacean, which is believed to be around 80 years old, was caught for the first time in 2021 off the coast of South Wales.
The unnamed fisherman who caught the lobster was fishing on a shipwreck for a conger eel when the 4-foot-long lobster went for the squid bait.
However, the fisherman decided that given the sea creature’s age and size, it was only fair to return the animal to the sea.
The same lobster has now been caught again in the same area, after fisherman Joshua Hearn pulled the crustaceans last week.
Fisherman Joshua Hearn (pictured) caught a 4-foot-long crayfish last week, the second time the 80-year-old crustacean has been caught in just two years
A lobster was identified as being caught before due to the loss of part of its claw
He wrapped it up and startled the boatswain’s skipper, Carl Bradley, when he immediately recognized her as the one from two years ago.
and Mr. Bradley was able to positively identify it because it was missing the tip of one of its cutting tentacles which had been severed, perhaps during a fight with another lobster.
Fisherman Mr. Hearn snapped a picture of him with the giant crustacean, being careful to keep his hands away from its huge, bone-crushing tentacles.
He then threw the lobster, estimated to weigh about 10 pounds (4.5 kg), back into the water, safe and sound.
Mr Hearne, the Swansea-based skipper of the charter boat Blue Thunder, said: ‘On both occasions the lobster was caught at the same spot.
“Joshua was fishing for Conger with his hook and line. He didn’t know what he caught first. As he was reeling it he thought it might be a spider crab.. I said ‘that’s not a crab, it’s a lobster’.”
“I helped him put the ball into the net and I could tell right away it was the same lobster. The tip of the upper cutting claw was missing just like it had been two years ago.
Boat skipper Carl Bradley (pictured) recognized the giant lobster because of its distinctive claw
The fishermen decided it was only fair to return the lobster to sea due to its size and age
“He has spent about 80 years living at the bottom of the sea, and it is only right that he should be allowed to see out his remaining days there.
You can’t kill a creature like that.
He added, “We do not say her exact location because we do not want another hunter to come and catch her and decide to kill her.”
“Besides, at this age and size, lobster meat would be very leathery and not nice to eat.
“I thought he was about 50, but others think he must be at least 80.
“No matter how old he is, he must be a very lucky crayfish.”
The largest lobster ever caught in UK waters was a 20lb specimen caught off Fowey in Cornwall in 1931.