Marine experts snap rare king crab off Yorkshire coast

A king crab at the Scarborough Sea Life Centre

MARINE wildlife experts were stunned after a red king crab was found off the coast of Yorkshire - the first ever such sighting in England.

The crabs, members of the lithododid family, are large, tasty and usually found in the Bering Sea - which is separated from the Gulf of Alaska by the Alaska Peninsula.

But oceanographer David McCreadie was baffled after finding one off Redcar, north Yorkshire.

His suspicion has now been confirmed by world crab expert Dr Norman Sloan, of the remote Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, Canada.

David, 66, said: “I have dived as an amateur and professional since 1966 and never seen one anywhere near here before.

“I have heard that king crabs have migrated under the Arctic ice cap and been found in Norway, but this is so far south.

“I know my crustaceans and when I saw this one, I knew it was special.

“I know king crabs are common in the Arctic, especially around Alaska, and they have turned up in Norway recently, but how on earth this one has got so far south, I have no idea. To my knowledge, this is the first one.

“It could only come from very cold, deep water but we don’t have very cold deep water in the North Sea. Perhaps it was on its summer holidays.”