George the giant Dartmouth crab has become an aquarium hero after surviving a 75-mile trip in the back of a car and five days in a fridge.

The family which ended up with George had planned to eat him – but found they did not have a pot big enough to cook him in.

After leaving him in the fridge for five days, they discovered the tough crab was still alive – so they took him to the Bristol Aquarium. Now George is on show to the public in his own tank.

David Waines from the city aquarium said: 'Although the crab was very weak when it arrived the fact that it was kept refrigerated meant it was in a kind of suspended animation.

'We placed it into a special tank in our quarantine area and began pumping oxygen-rich seawater over it and it showed signs of recovery. Hopefully it will continue to get better and will be able to enjoy a long retirement,' he added.

The huge edible crab arrived in Dartmouth after being hauled out of the sea two miles off Dartmouth by a local fisherman. With its nine inch shell the massive crustacean was such a fine specimen, he decided to present it to a sick friend who lives in Weston Super Mare.

The crab then spent five days in the fridge. However when it came time to cook it the family decided they could not bring themselves to do it, and instead contacted the Harbourside aquarium.

Mr Waines said: 'We received a phone call from a lady who told us they had a large crab in their fridge and they wanted to donate it to the aquarium.

'Basically, they didn't have the heart to kill him.

Tests show that crabs' claws have the crushing strength of over 90 pounds per square inch. An average person is only capable of squashing to 25 lb.