Is 'Crabzilla' real or not? Leading marine biologist rules picture of giant crab lurking in shallow waters

• Picture emerges appearing to show giant crustacean off Kent coast
• Whitstable resident claimed he saw large creature while crabbing with son
• But marine biologist says that species of crab would never grow so big
• She says some species are as a big as cars, but brands photo a hoax

A marine biologist has killed off claims that a giant crab is living on the Kent coast - insisting the image is probably a well-doctored hoax.

Residents of Whitstable were left shocked when a photo emerged appearing to show a huge crustacean just yards from the coastal town's harbour.

But sea-life expert Dr Verity Nye, who has worked on logging new species of crab, says it is impossible one of the creatures could grow so big.

Dr Nye, an Ocean and Earth Science researcher at the University of Southampton, said: 'The idea of a giant "crabzilla" would very exciting. Unfortunately, I think this is a hoax.

'I don't know what the currents are like around that harbour or what sort of shapes they might produce in the sand, but I think it's more conceivable that someone is playing about with the photo.

She added: 'The UK does have large crabs. The biggest is the spider crab which can grow up to 1.2 metres in size, but they tend to stay in much deeper water, about 1,000-metres deep, and are a different shape from the image in this photo.

'Crabs with a "pie crust edge", like the one in the crabzilla image, are known as edible crabs, or Cancer pagarus, but tend only to grow to about 20 to 30 centimetres.'

Dr Nye added: 'The largest crabs in the world are Japanese Spider Crabs, which can grow to about 3.7 metres in size, about as big as a small car, but again, they tend to stay in deep water and don't come ashore.

'Crabs are amazing because they are so diverse, we have about 60 species around the UK, and it is not inconceivable that new species could be found, but I laughed when I saw this picture.'

The photograph of the apparent 50ft crustacean was originally posted on a blog called Weird Whistable, a collection of strange and unusual sightings in the town.

The image has sparked a rash of less believable online images, with Twitter users mocking up their own pictures of giant claws emerging from the wate