The lobster, nicknamed Lionel, had made his home in the huge wartime bomb which had lay dormant on the seabed for more than 60 years. The 600lb mine was stumbled upon by divers off Swanage, Dorset.
They took pictures of it and alerted Portland coastguard, who contacted the Royal Navy bomb disposal unit. Navy divers inspected the device and found Lionel inside. The crustacean refused to be coaxed out of his make-shift house and delivered a nasty nip to the frogmen.
The bomb squad had no choice but to set charges to the mine with Lionel still inside and, after setting up a 1,000m cordon, blew it up. The huge explosion sent a 50ft plume of water shooting skywards and shook the nearby town of Swanage. Lionel the lobster sadly did not survive.
A spokesman for Portland coastguard said: "It seems that the lobster made his home inside the mine, in the hole where the parachute would have come out. "We don't know how long he was living in it but we named him Lionel as soon as we realised he was there."
"Unfortunately, the bomb disposal unit have a job to do and it wasn't possible to save Lionel. We've had a moment's silence for him though, because he was no doubt blown to smithereens in the explosion."
You can see the explosion that killed Lionel here.
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