Shocked Supermarket workers in Wick discovered an African Huntsman Spider in a box of bananas.

Staff at the Somerfield store managed to collect the spider in a box and contacted the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to collect it.

The spider was then transferred to Inverness into the care of Nick Martin of Creatures Great and Small.

Mr Martin, who gives talks to schools and universities across the country, offered to adopt the female spider and add it to his collection of spiders.

He said in a statement: "They are fantastic creatures, but pretty scary even for me.  They are very quick, quite aggressive and can give a really nasty bite.

"They are also able to jump between four and five feet so for a lot of people the thought of having one of these anywhere near them would be terrifying.

"The African Huntsman is the species of spider used in the film Arachnophobia, so it's understandable why the workers in the supermarket might have got a nasty shock."

He added: "They do not make good pets as they require quite a bit of specialised knowledge so I was more than happy to give her the home she deserves."

Senior SPCA Inspector Audrey Gunn said: "Although she was quiet when I first arrived to collect her she soon became very feisty so I named her Cruella.

"The workers did the right thing in calling us quickly. Our advice to anyone who comes across a similarly dangerous looking creature is to contain it and then contact us straight away."