Predator sharks spotted in the sea off Cornwall
FISHERMEN believe two of the biggest species of predator sharks are stalking the sea off Cornwall, attracted by the warm water.
They say bite marks found on much smaller blue sharks bear all the hallmarks of attacks by the great white and its relative the mako.
Just last week fisherman Danny O’Malley was reeling in a 40lb blue shark when it was attacked by a much larger shark, which made off at high speed, leaving its prey with a big gash. He believes a mako, which can grow to 12ft long, weigh 1,000lb and swim at 50mph, was responsible.
Expert shark fisherman David Turner, 66, said: “I fished off Cornwall through the Sixties and never once landed a shark with any sort of bite marks. Over the past two summers, around 10 blue sharks have been caught already badly injured, three within as many weeks.
He believes there is “no doubt” great whites are among the foreign visitors to Cornish waters, which at close to 70F (21C) are now as warm as their usual hunting grounds off South Africa.
In the 30 years to 2010 the smaller mako shark has been blamed for 42 attacks on humans across the world, three of them fatal.