Monster six-metre eel caught off British coast could break records

A giant conger eel weighing nearly 60kg has been caught off the British coast.

The six-metre eel was caught after it became entangled in the nets of a fishing trawler, the UK Telegraph reported.

The creature could be a new record-holder, upsetting the previous world's largest conger eel caught by fisherman Vic Evans in 1995, also off the coast of Britain.

That eel weighed just over 60kg before it was gutted - but it is believed this eel could have weighed as much as 72kg before being disembowelled.

It was caught by commercial fisherman Scott Govier of the trawler "Hope".

The eel sold for £40 ($78.31) at auction after being brought in to Plymouth Fisheries, which was more than Mr Govier expected.

"When we pulled it up I was stunned, because it was so huge," he said.

"It was already dead when we pulled it up, else we would have thrown him back in and let him live."

Mr Govier said the eel would have been "too magnificent" to kill.