Whale sharks can be found now and then around England’s coast (more common in Scotland). Despite being the second largest fish on earth, they are completely harmless gentle giants, who will swim right past you (if you’re diving). The only known fatalities is when accidentally upturned a boat, and the sailors drowned.
If you dive or snorkel, keep well away from sharks to avoid bubbles or disturbance, and enter water gently to minimise splashing. If you see a whale shark, position yourself alongside so not to restrict movement. Don’t touch or feed it, nor use flash photography or jetskis. For help, call British Divers Marine Life Rescue (or be put through by coastguard or RSPCA).
Whale sharks are the size of a bus, and usually have unique starry patterns, with pale spots and stripes on a grey-blue body. They are gentle feeders that usually swim gracefully through the water, with wide-open mouths to ‘filter feed’ on tiny fish and plankton. Which is why it’s important to keep our oceans clean, or they will ingest plastic and other waste.
Very peaceful creatures, basking sharks often migrate thousands of miles to feed and breed. They play an essential role in ecosystems, yet like all marine creatures, are suffering from loss of habitat, climate change, pollution and hunting. They also are one of the creatures often caught in certain fishing nets, as by-catch.
Basking sharks often visit Cornwall, and due to the dorsal fin sticking out of the water, many people mistake them for great white sharks and run back to the beach! They only visit England during summer, heading back to warmer waters (like the Azores or Newfoundland) during our winter.
Other Sharks Found around England’s Coast
Shortfin mako sharks are very fast, able to swim up to 50 miles per hour. They eat swordfish and tuna and like dolphins, drive up out of the water. They are not that common, but occasionally seen around English waters.
Blue sharks (like most other sharks) only visit England in summer, and sometimes travel up to 5000 miles to reach us! Swimming in large groups, they are fortunate to arrive here, as tiger and great white sharks often eat them on the journey.
Common thresher sharks have a tail that’s often longer than the shark, and they whip it around to stun prey, or to disorientate fish on sea-beds. They are again summer visitors, but not that often.
Greenland sharks are smaller than great white sharks, and although they visit England now and then, they swim so deep down in the ocean that you’re unlikely to see them. They live from 250 to 400 years! The longest-living vertebrates, they only give birth after 150, and it takes 8 to 18 years to gestate a baby!
Other Sharks Around the World
The crazy-looking hammerhead shark (nine species) has binocular vision, and can use their heads to ram their prey. They can swim sideways, and amazingly, females can fertilise their own eggs, to give birth without a male shark.
What About Terrifying Sharks?
All sharks are now severely endangered, including terrifying-looking great white sharks. But they usually only kill when mistaking surfboards for fish (hence most attacks are in Australia). Sharks (which form an important part of the ecosystem) also suffer to make shark fin soup (the fins cut off and then they’re thrown back in the sea to die). Never buy anything suspect while abroad (since June 2023, it’s now illegal to import shark fins into the UK). Also never buy shark teeth when abroad. Visit Bite Back for ways to help all sharks across the world.
Beauty Brands with Squalene/Squalane
Although some companies now make plant-based versions, most squalene or squalane oil in cosmetics is from sharks. Commonly found in wrinkle creams, deodorants, lip balms, sunscreens and lipsticks, check for vegan logos before purchase. It takes 3000 sharks to make just one ton of squalene, meaning almost 3 million sharks are killed each year, just to take oil from their livers, to use in the beauty and pharmaceutical industries.
The reason shark liver oil is used is because their swim bladders keep them buoyant in the ocean, but you can get the same effects from plant-based squalene from olives, sugarcane, rice brand, wheat germ or amaranth seed. And just like ‘shark finning’, often the people who sell the livers remove the liver, then just throw the creatures back in the ocean.
