IT travelled from the other side of the world, survived a 48-hour flight, and wasn’t harmed by being squashed without food in a suitcase.

But there were warnings last night that a stowaway giant crab from the Pacific islands of Micronesia is likely to have met a cold and unpleasant end after singer, model and TV personality Myleene Klass revealed how she had released it into the ponds on Hampstead Heath.

Ms Klass, 37, had travelled to Mogmog – a small island in the Yap archipelago in the Western Pacific – to make a TV show called Singin’ in the Rain Forest. 

But as the programme was launched, she told showbiz reporters that a crab had somehow ended up in her bag and come home with her. 

The 37-year-old said: “I kept thinking, ‘I’ve got to let this crab go free because it is not very happy here in Highgate’. So we let it free on Hampstead Heath. I’ve probably ruined the eco system.”

Experts told the New Journal yesterday (Wednesday) that this may have been an unwitting death sentence for the crab. Rachel Jones, head of the aquarium at London Zoo, said that hundreds of species live in the Pacific, but the one most likely to have climbed into Ms Klass’s luggage was a “coconut crab”, named after its favourite food.

Ms Jones said: “It lives in trees and does run around and gets into all sorts of places. They have big jaws that can crack open coconut shells, and they also feast on rats and other crabs. They can get pretty big, with a span of around 60 to 70 centimetres. They are scary looking things.”

But despite this fearsome reputation, Heath swimmers taking a dip in the Ponds have little to fear. Ms Jones added: “If the animal is not from this country, the rule of thumb is never let it go in the wild. The best thing that can happen is they die a horrible death. The worst thing is they will start killing native species. 

“If it was a coconut crab and was put into water, there is no chance of it surviving because they cannot swim. And if it was a different type, it would also have died by now. Crabs are marine animals, not fresh water creatures. On top of this, one from a Pacific island would find the weather here far too cold to survive.”

A spokesman for the City of London Corporation said: “Dumping of any animals on Hampstead Heath or any other public space can have damaging effects to the local ecology and is to be strongly discouraged.”

Coconut crabs 'climb trees and get everywhere'

If, against the odds, the crab has survived, it will join a host of other non-native creatures on the Heath. After the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle craze of the 1980s, terrapins became the must-have pet for youngsters – and families soon found they outgrew their tanks. The problem got so bad that in 2008 Heath rangers collected terrapins from the Highgate ponds and flew them to a turtle sanctuary in Italy. The Heath also has a breeding flock of parakeets, rumoured to have escaped from the west London set of the film African Queen – which starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman – and found sanctuary in woods by the Highgate ponds. 

Ms Klass added in an interview with the Daily Express: “I don’t know if somebody packed this or what, but in my bag was a giant crab. They must be hardy these crabs, it made it all the way back.”

Her publicists did not respond to requests for a comment yesterday.