Locals walking along a river in Cornwall were stunned to spot this blue shark- the same species that recently bit a woman off the coast. The fish was seen in the estuary of the River Fal yesterday (17 August) - leaving people stunned.
Several people who were visiting Trelissick Gardens, near Feock said they saw the shark. Earlier this month a woman diving off the coast of Cornwall was bitten by a blue shark - the first shark attack off Britain for 175 years.
Harry Clark, a graduate graduate of Marine Vertebrate Ecology and Conservation, took the video of the unexpected visitor along Carrick Roads, around Trelissick beach. The University of Exeter graduate from Falmouth said he was unsure of why the shark was so close to the shoreline, but admitted: "It was very surprising to see this species this close to shore and in such shallow water as they are a pelagic species."
Pelagic fish live in the water column (not near the bottom or the shore) of coasts, open oceans, and lakes.
One witness said: "Silently, slowly and elegantly this blue shark just sort of swam by. I thought he was in a bit of trouble, but he was fantastic. I was speaking to a fisherman down there and the fisherman was saying that, actually, he didn't think he was in trouble."
Dan Jarvis, of the charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue, reported concern over how close the shark appeared to the beach.
He said: "This is a real worry for us because they don't normally come up so close to beaches like this. Our worry is that it is injured or unwell and might need some medical attention.
"Our advice is to ignore it and give it a wide berth. It could be disorientated and it's best for our team to monitor it, to give it the space and time to do what it wants. It could have just come for a look and will swim off when it's happy to, but if it's unwell we don't want to cause it any more stress by people getting into the water and interfering with it."
Blue sharks are common in UK waters from June to October. They feed mainly on small fish and squid and, despite an incident earlier this summer which saw a blue shark bite a snorkeler during a 'shark dive' experience, they do not tend to attack humans.
They are usually between ten and 13ft long and it is believed that they can live up to 20 years.
