The XO Directory

The biggest and largest Thresher shark ever recorded has been caught by a trawler off the Cornwall coast.

The 510 kg/1122 lb shark measured over 4.75 m/15'10" and was caught by a trawler fishing for squid and John Dory in the English Channel near Land's End peninsula.

Roger Nowell, the skipper of FV Imogen, spotted a shoal of scad near the bottom on his echo sounder and shot his trawl. The monster shark was among the haul.

Douglas Herdson, Information Officer at the National Marine Aquarium, told Practical Fishkeeping: "It was a female Common thresher, Alopias vulpinnis. Thresher sharks are one of the largest of the 28 types of sharks found in British waters.

"They are not common but are caught from time to time around our coasts, especially in the central Channel and off the coasts of Devon and Cornwall.

"When it was landed at Newlyn Fish Market it was found to weigh a monstrous 510 kg/1122 lb; making it one of the heaviest Thresher sharks ever caught anywhere in the world and the second giant from Cornish waters in a few weeks." Source