Basking shark spotted by fisherman off Tynemouth

A huge basking shark was spotted by a fisherman near Newcastle.

The gentle giant was seen by Tony Marron off the coast of Tynemouth on Thursday.

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Initially, he thought it was two dolphins and was stunned when he discovered it was an 18ft shark.

Speaking to the Chronicle Live, Tony, from North Shields, said: "We drew in as close as we could and realised it was not two dolphins, it was actually one fish.

"It was a basking shark. Estimating the length from its tail to its dorsal fin, it looks about 16-18 feet."

The Daily Mirror reports that dolphins were also spotted earlier this week off the coast of Northumberland and a man spotted a shark while out with his three-year-old daughter at Hessle Foreshore, Yorkshire.

Dave Mantle said he saw the animal's fin in the shadow of the Humber Bridge. He said: "Typically, I didn't see it for a good while but then it came up again. My daughter was really enthusiastic and she was shouting 'Shark! Shark!'"

Meanwhile, the Scarborough Porpoise Facebook page shared a video of a basking shark off the coast of Scarborough on Saturday and wrote: "Nick Gough of Skylark Fishing trips has filmed this footage of a Basking Shark one mile off the Marine Drive Scarborough this morning, there was also a possible sighting of a second shark. Basking Sharks are gentle giants of the sea which eat tiny plankton."