A two-metre long shark has been caught just yards off one of Britain’s most popular tourist beaches.
A fisherman hauled in the porbeagle shark – a close relative of the great white – just 300 yards off Chesil Beach, in Dorset.
Tourists were surprised when Jan Davey brought his unusual catch – which was taller than he was - ashore and laid it on the shingle.
The 39-year-old sat astride the fearsome fish, which was so large that at least one visitor thought it was a surfboard, and opened its massive jaws to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Mr Davey, who caught the porbeagle in his net by accident while fishing, told the Dorset Echo: “I’ve been fishing here since I was 16-years-old.
“I’ve never seen anything like that so close to the shore.”
Porbeagles, which can grow up to more than three metres long, usually stay at least 10 miles offshore.
But this specimen got caught in Mr Davey’s trammel net near Chesil Cove.
It is illegal to deliberately fish for porgeales but Mr Davey, of Portland, was unaware of its species and said the fish was already dead when he pulled it in.
He returned the shark – which was almost as long as his boat – to the sea when it was identified.
It is breeding season for porbeagles and Dorset Wildlife Trust said the unlucky creature was a reproductive female.
Porbeagles are among the most common sharks in British waters, along with blue sharks, and are found all around the UK.
A 9ft porbeagle was photographed off Cornwall in May.
Basking sharks, which typically grow to eight metres, are also commonly seen around the UK.
Despite being a member of the same family – mackerel sharks – as the great white, porbeagles bare little threat to humans.
Porbeagles are naturally shy and there have only been three recorded attacks on humans, none of them fatal.
Some experts believe they are being driven closer to land by a lack of food in the over-fished Atlantic.
