UK JAWS Fever continues

Press Release from The Shark Trust on supposed recent bull shark sighting off Cornwall: Shark fever reaches new levels with claimed sighting of Bull Shark.

The Shark Trust is surprised at the recent reporting of a supposed sighting of a bull shark by two surfers in Sennen Cove, Cornwall.

Despite the best efforts of global warming it would take a huge expansion in the range of the bull shark to see one in UK waters. The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) is a tropical and subtropical species that favours stable water temperatures between 21 and 30 degrees Celsius. The Caribbean or the West African coasts represent the closest populations to the UK.

Identification of any shark through the water column requires a high degree of experience and more so if you are engaged in another activity. Sennen Cove is one of the country’s key sites for basking shark activity and it is far more likely that the shark sighted by the surfers, as with the first 'mako' sighting, was a basking shark.

British waters contain an exciting diversity of sharks none of which have been responsible for an attack on beach-goers but it is far from likely that we can add the bull shark to our list of seasonal visitors.

Source: www.sharktrust.org