Two of the world’s rarest lobsters were saved from the cooking pot after a shopper spotted them for sale in a fishmongers.

The orange Canadian lobsters are so rare just one in 30 million are ever caught and are so elusive most fishermen never see them.

Incredibly, two of the live shellfish were found on sale for £25.50 at a Makro store in land-locked Leicester.

Caterer Joseph Lee, 47, saw the lobsters swimming around the tank while shopping at the store in the city’s Meridian Business Park last Thursday (20/5).

He said: “I went in to do my usual shopping for my catering business.

“I saw these two orange lobsters from a distance and thought they were toys because that’s the only time I’ve seen them orange apart from when they’re cooked.

“I thought someone was having a joke and had put a couple of orange toy lobsters in the tank.

“I got closer and noticed they were alive. I couldn’t believe my eyes."

The dad-of-two, from Leicester, decided to try and save the lobsters from being sold so spoke to the store manager who agreed to donate them to an aquarium.