This is the footage showing a ‘4 foot long shark’ in shallow waters off the Dorset coast.
Paddle boarder Anthony Robins filmed two sharks in the waters on the coastal edge of Hengistbury Head reports DorsetLive.
The sighting, on July 16, was made almost three weeks prior to the sighting of a “large aquatic animal” at Boscombe beach this Wednesday (August 4).
That sighting forced the RNLI to close the beach to search for the reported ‘shark’, with claims that the unidentified creature pulled a fisherman’s rod from his hand and that it brushed up against an 11-year-old boy.
Anthony, a IT company director from Christchurch, and his friend Nick Jenner, both 48, are frequent paddlers in the area.
Even though they paddle out around three times a week, this is the first time that they have seen sharks in the sea off the coast.
Anthony told Dorset Live: “We were about 400 yards offshore.
“The water was absolutely glassy so you could just see anything cutting through. We saw the dorsal fins from about 50 yards away and so we moved towards them.
“The pair of them were consistently swimming with the larger one in front and the smaller behind.”
He added: “They were about 4 foot in length and my mates have said they are likely to have been tope or smoothhounds.”
With topes growing to a potential of nearly 2m in length and smoothhounds to 1.5m, the pair are likely to be young and growing.
Anthony added: “I reckon they are always there, it’s just sometimes when the water is so flat you can see anything.”
The sighting comes as swimmers were on Wednesday (August 4) evacuated from the water at Boscombe beach after the RNLI received reports of a “large marine animal” and “significant movement” in the sea.
Lifeguards raised the red flags and ordered beach goers to avoid the water while they conducted a search of the area.
The official advice is to stay 200 metres away from sharks or large marine animals.
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