{"id":616663,"date":"2026-06-02T07:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T07:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/616663\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T07:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T07:51:13","slug":"privileged-boat-crew-spots-huge-fin-in-devon-waters-and-realise-its-rare-creature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/616663\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Privileged’ boat crew spots huge fin in Devon waters and realise it’s rare creature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plymouth Marine Safari crew spotted a large fin in the water, which turned out to be a creature you don’t typically see in Devon waters. They were incredibly lucky<\/p>\n

Sophie Roberts Head of Social Newsdesk<\/p>\n

09:26, 01 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

It is possible to spot numerous shark species in the UK (stock image)(Image: Nautilus Creative via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Devon’s coastline isn’t just beautiful to look at \u2013 it’s also a diverse ecosystem. From the protected estuaries and salt marshes to rocky coastlines, seagrass meadows<\/a>, reefs and shipwrecks, there are plenty of places for marine creatures to call home.<\/p>\n

It’s common to see grey seals<\/a> basking on tidal rocks, dolphins<\/a> cutting through the Sound’s waters and seabirds plunging after shoaling fish. Meanwhile, rockpools are tiny habitats brimming with anemones, crabs and darting small fish.<\/p>\n

Yet occasionally, nature delivers something altogether more spectacular. An excursion carried out by Plymouth Marine Safari proved that when the crew headed out last Friday.<\/p>\n

When the skipper saw a distinctive fin breaking the surface, they soon realised it wasn’t a dolphin or a basking shark.<\/a> On Instagram, they recalled: “Well…. On Friday, something out of the ordinary happened on one of our 4-hour sunset safaris here in Plymouth.<\/p>\n

“After not being able to find any fins for over half of the trip, we were desperately trying to find some marine life for our guests.”<\/p>\n

Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n

The post went on: “Skipper Danny suddenly spotted a splash or two… but no dolphins to be seen. We headed over regardless and all of a sudden we saw a fin come up in the distance that looked to be just cruising along the surface and making its way towards us.<\/p>\n

“What did we have? As confirmed by skipper Kev – A PORBEAGLE shark!!!!!!”<\/p>\n

Porbeagle sharks are substantial, robust mackerel sharks inhabiting the cold-to-temperate waters across the North Atlantic and certain regions of the Southern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

Porbeagle sharks are uncommon and locally \u201crarely encountered”. Historical overfishing has heavily depleted populations, so spotting one is incredibly lucky.<\/p>\n

Even if porbeagles occur off the South West approaches\/Celtic Sea, they tend to be offshore and fast-moving, so most people won\u2019t spot them.<\/p>\n

\"Porbeagle\"<\/p>\n

Porbeagle sharks are related to great whites, but are smaller(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

These sharks share a close kinship with great white sharks, displaying similar streamlined bodies, pointed snouts and distinctive crescent-shaped tails. That said, porbeagles reach a maximum length of roughly 12 feet, while great whites can grow to 19 feet and tip the scales at several thousand pounds.<\/p>\n

Sharks may look scary, but they’re often not a reason for panic. While caution is sensible around large predatory sharks such as porbeagles, swimmer encounters remain exceptionally rare in British waters.<\/p>\n

Plus, verified attacks on humans are extremely uncommon. It’s also worth noting that porbeagles play a vital role in maintaining balance in marine ecosystems by regulating prey populations and promoting biodiversity.<\/p>\n

The Plymouth Marine Safari’s social media update garnered 2,500 likes, with wildlife enthusiasts thrilled to witness a shark in British waters.<\/p>\n

One person enthused: “Eeek, so so cool. I would have fainted.” Another said: “What an insane start to the UK wildlife season.”<\/p>\n

A third wrote: “What a privilege, amazing.” Meanwhile, others branded the experience “epic”, “incredible” and “so awesome”. We have to agree with them!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plymouth Marine Safari crew spotted a large fin in the water, which turned out to be a creature…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[3920,1031,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-616663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-plymouth","tag-sailing","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}