A HUGE shark has washed up on a popular British beach, prompting a warning from marine experts.
The basking shark, which appears to be around 3.5 meters long, was spotted in Ayrshire with a rope wrapped around its mouth and tail.
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The sighting, which occurred on June 30, was posted online by Ellie MacLennan, who is doing a PhD focusing on marine life entanglement.
She urged the public to report sightings to the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS).
Ms MacLennan wrote on Facebook: “[SMASS] We have received very few reports of strandings involving basking sharks, but this species is known to be vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear and marine debris, although there is no way of knowing the origin of this rope.
“If you find a stranded whale, dolphin, porpoise, seal, shark or turtle please report it @smass.scotland.
“We can learn a lot from each case, not just about why the animal died but also how it lived, which can give insight into what is happening in the wider marine environment and any emerging threats.
“Thank you to Yolanda McCall for reporting this case and allowing us to share her video.”
Ms MacLennan holds a BSc (Honours) in Conservation Biology from the University of Aberdeen and a MSc in International Marine Environmental Consulting from the University of Newcastle.
She started working at SMASS in 2018 as coordinator of the Scottish Entanglement Alliance (SEA).
Ms MacLennan said basking sharks (Cetorhinus maximus) are the second largest shark species in the world, growing up to 11 meters long and weighing more than four tonnes.
They can be found in cold and temperate waters and appear to prefer coastal waters in the spring and summer but deeper waters during the winter, she added.
They can dive to depths of up to 900 meters to feed on plankton and are known to travel great distances.
Ms MacLennan said one of them was tracked covering almost 19,000 kilometers in “just over two months”.
Basking sharks are typically passive and generally pose no danger to humans.
The sighting comes after a huge shark was filmed floating in the waters off Bournemouth as sunbathers enjoyed the sun just meters away.
Surfer Christian Pepin spotted the sea beast from the safety of the pier and captured images of the predator lurking in the shallow waters.
What are basking sharks and how big are they?
Basking sharks are the second largest fish species, after whale sharks.
The gray-brown adults grow to an average of 20 to 26 feet and weigh five tons – but can be much larger.
The largest accurately measured fish was caught in Canada in 1851 and weighed 16 tons.
It was 40.3 feet (12.27 m) long.
Specimens longer than 33 feet are rarely seen nowadays because overfishing has reduced their numbers.
Basking sharks have huge mouths over a meter wide, with jaws that open wide as they feed in shallow waters close to shore.
Their babies are also huge. They are born measuring one and a half or six meters in length, after a gestation that is believed to last from one to three years.
They are a protected species on the red list, considered vulnerable worldwide and threatened with extinction in the Northeast Atlantic.
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