{"id":684424,"date":"2026-07-10T15:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T15:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/684424\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T15:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T15:26:15","slug":"blue-shark-spotted-swimming-in-weymouth-harbour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/684424\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue shark spotted swimming in Weymouth harbour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

A blue shark has been spotted cruising along a south coast harbour.<\/p>\n

The 4ft-long creature was spotted navigating the quayside in Weymouth<\/a>, Dorset.<\/a><\/p>\n

The harbour is popular with tourists for crabbing and is close to the town\u2019s beach, which regularly attracts thousands of people.<\/p>\n

Artist Rob Young spotted the shark while strolling along the harbour wall.<\/p>\n

Although blue sharks<\/a> are native to British waters, they typically inhabit areas of deeper sea further offshore.<\/p>\n

Attacks on humans are extremely rare, primarily due to their limited interactions with people.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 4ft shark was spotted next to the harbour wall (RobYoung\/BNPS)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised to see the shark, I\u2019d never seen one this close to shore before,\u201d Mr Young said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it was after the pollock under the boats or just momentarily disoriented and acting out of its normal behaviour patterns.\u201d<\/p>\n

One expert said that the shark was likely hunting prey fish.<\/p>\n

Kico Iraola, the curator at the SeaLife Centre in Weymouth<\/a>, said: \u201cIt is unusual for blue sharks<\/a> to remain in busy harbours or close to popular bathing areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cReduced availability of prey species, particularly mackerel, in recent years may also contribute to weakened individuals venturing into areas where they would not normally be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WeymouthWeymouth Harbour, seen top left, is near Weymouth beach (Graham Hunt\/BNPS)<\/p>\n

Hayley Roberts, a marine engagement assistant for the Dorset<\/a> Wildlife Trust, confirmed that it was a blue shark.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis species has an elongated, slender shape, a long conical snout, long pointed pectoral fins, and a metallic blue body.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlue sharks, particularly a dominance of females, are usually present in UK waters from May to October, when water conditions are favourable and there is an abundance of prey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are usually spotted well offshore, so to see one in a harbour is quite rare, although it does happen from time to time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent years there has been an increase in blue shark sightings, alongside other shark species such as porbeagle and thresher sharks, off the south coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are several possible reasons for this, including increased protection and changes in ocean conditions, such as warming seas, although the exact causes are still being investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BlueBlue sharks are native to UK waters (Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/p>\n

Blue sharks can grow to 13ft and 400lbs. They are found in oceans across the world.<\/p>\n

They spend the winter months in more tropical waters of the Caribbean or west Africa but head to the northwest Atlantic for the summer.<\/p>\n

In recent years the number of blue sharks off the south west coast has rapidly increased.<\/p>\n

It is thought this is down to rising sea temperatures and the very healthy state of nutrient-rich offshore waters that attracts their prey fish, like squid.<\/p>\n

The Florida Museum of Natural History holds the International Shark Attack File which lists 13 confirmed bites to humans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-684424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684424","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=684424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}