Meet the crab thief of Largs Bay

UNDERWATER footage caught him red-handed (sort of). Meet The Claw — the sneakiest crab in Largs Bay, who can open a crab pot and steal away with the bait.

YOU might call him The Claw — the sneakiest crab in Largs Bay.

When builder Mark Katnich went crabbing with a client at the weekend, they dropped a GoPro camera down with the crab net, just to see what happened.

With the boat about a kilometre or so offshore, they busted someone stealing red-handed. Sort of.

The GoPro filmed a crab opening the crab pot, nicking out a tommy, and even releasing his claw, before making away with his ill-gotten gains.

“It’s the first time we’ve seen it,” Mr Katnich said.

“It was interesting to see for someone who’s been crabbing a bit to see what it’s actually like down there.

“I’m always having a bit of a go at my son for not putting the top on properly, and this time it was me.”

He uploaded the video up on his company’s Facebook page — Katnich Building & Design — where it quickly went viral, with more than 267,000 views since Monday.

Despite losing that catch, the expedition wasn’t a loss — Mr Katnich said they didn’t come away empty-handed.

More and more anglers and boaties are using GoPros while fishing and diving. In November 2013, boaties captured vision of a shark taking a chomp out of a boat’s propeller off West Beach.

Late last year, divers came face-to-face with a Great White shark at the tyre reef off Glenelg.

Follow @LyntonGrace

Originally published as Meet the crab thief of Largs Bay