The shark seen off Exmouth is not a Blue Shark, Prionace glauca, but a Basking Shark, Cetorhinus maximus..

4 January 2012
A two metre long Blue Shark, Prionace glauca, was washed up alive on to the beach at West Bay, Dorset, and hauled back into the water by Jeannette Longley, but it was found dead on the shore at Burton Bradstock shortly afterwards.

28 July 2011
A female Porbeagle Shark, Lamna nasus, with a reported weight of nearly 300 lb (136 kg) was caught by Don McCloskey on rod and line off Fanad Head, Donegal, Northern Ireland. (No measurements of the shark were included in the report.)

15 February 2011
A Blue Shark, Prionace glauca, made a surprise appearance in St. Helier Marina, Jersey.

15 October 2010

Gary Crane received a shock when he landed a 4.95 kg (10 lb 14 oz 11 dram)  female Marbled Electric Ray, Torpedo marmorata, on Richard Seager’s ‘Out of Blue‘, while fishing about three miles to the east of Sark, Channel Islands.  The electric ray had a total length of 58.6 cm and a disc width of 41.5 cm.  The electric ray took a whole Black Bream, Spondyliosoma cantharus, presented as bait. 

19 June 2010 onwards
Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, continue to be seen from the shore off the Cornish coast. 

Basking Shark Video on Facebook (by Maria Munn)
Basking Sharks on flickr
BMLSS Basking Sharks

24 May 2010 onwards
Some of the first Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, of the year are spotted off Land's End, Cornwall. "I heard a brief splash as three of the twelve sharks breached the surface" .

15 May 2010 onwards
 

Other Basking Shark reports from off the coast of Cornwall came from Pendeen and Praa Sands and the odd one off the Lizard. Later reports on 18 May 2010 saw the sharks off Porthcurno and Sennen. 

18 October 2009
A recreational angler caught a 26.76 kg  (59 lb exactly) female Stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca, in shallow water near Vermerette off the west coast of the island of  Herm, Channel Islands, (about 400 metres from Herm harbour) from a boat. The ray had a total length of 124 cm and a disc width of 76 cm. 

The stomach of the fish contained about 20 well digested Sandeels and some small shrimps (it is a bottom feeder.) The liver weighed 4859 grams (10.7 lb). This ray would have broken the British record of the fish had been caught from the shore. 

2 July 2009
A newly born (neonate) Porbeagle Shark, Lamna nasus, was caught and released by a young angler off the Great Bank off the east coast of Guernsey, Channel Islands. Andy Simon (father of the angler) wrote that the neonate shark weighed about 7 kg (15 lb) and was about a metre long. It was caught at 4.30 pm out from Fermain Bay. 

Porbeagle Sharks usually produce two young per uterus (four in total per litter) after a long gestation. The embryos are oophagous. The mother only fertilises two eggs in each uterus but she produces copious amounts of eggs during gestation, which the developing embryos eat. The embryos have sharp teeth to tear the skin of the eggs apart. The developing embryos have a large abdominal yolk sac, which they absorb during development. During the colder months Guernsey fishermen catch Porbeagle Sharks occasionally.  The captured adult females usually carry embryos.  It appears that Channel Island waters are a nursery ground forPorbeagle Sharks as there is evidence that Porbeagle Sharks give birth there.
Images of Embryos (by Richard Lord)
 

16 June 2009
 

A rod caught Blunt-nosed Six-gilled Shark, Hexanchus griseus, was caught about three miles off Loop Head and landed on board the Clare Dragoon out of Carrigaholt, County Clare, south-west Ireland. The fish which weighed in at 480 kg, (1056 lb), beats the existing European angling record which stands at 466 kg and was landed in the Azores. 

The Six-gilled Shark is an active shark found in seas of  between 200 to 1000 metres deep. These depths occur only off the Continental Shelf to the south and west of the British Isles. Between 1960 and 1984, at least 31 specimens have been recorded off west Scotland, south-west Ireland, the Faeroe Bank, and west of Ireland down to 964 metres. The majority of reports are from the main fishing areas along the shallower slope on both sides of the Rockall Trough, which is the 1000 metre deep trench that runs between the Rockall Bank and the Irish coast. This very deep trough extends from Iceland down to the Bay of Biscay. 

BMLSS Six-gill Sharks Page 1
BMLSS Six-gill Sharks Page 2

26 June 2005
A shark landed at Plymouth dockside was a 118 cm (TL) female Blunt-nosed Six-gilled Shark, Hexanchus griseus, caught on longline due west of Cornwall  (50°N 8°W).
More Information on Six-Gilled Sharks (by Len Nevell)
Fishbase Entry
BMLSS Sharks
 

14 June 2009

A large Tope, Galeorhinus galeus, with a measured length of 175 cm was captured on rod and line from his own boat while fishing in Wigtown Bay, south west Scotland by Russell Roberts (in the photograph). The weight of this shark is estimated at 36 kg. 

BMLSS Tope Page 1
BMLSS Tope Page 2
UK Shark Tagging Programme
BMLSS Sharks & Rays
Large Tope from Sussex 1997

6 June 2009
A large Stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca, was caught in an angling competition by Gordon Pressey off the western Isle of Wight and the imperial weight was 49 lb 5 oz (22.4 kg). 

June 2008
A rare female Marbled Electric Ray, Torpedo marmorata, was captured in a trawl net by Worthing fisherman Brian Davey about eight miles off Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex. The ray which was about 60 cm long and can deliver a 220 volt electric shock. It was kept alive found a home at Brighton Sea Life Centre. 

This is the rarer of the two electric rays recorded in British seas and is extremely rare off Sussex. This fish can grow up to 60 cm in length. It is not known to breed in British seas and fish are likely to have migrated up the English Channel in summer.
BMLSS Sharks & Rays
BMLSS Marbled Electric Ray
Sussex Rare Fishes
Sussex Marine Life Reports 2008
Adur Nature Reports 2008

5 June 2008
In the early hours a large Stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca, was caught by an angler Ken Canning off the beach at Pagham Harbour, Sussex, and released back alive. It weighed between 65 lb and 72 lb; this should be a BR (R-C) FC record. 
“This magnificent fish which was probably around 72 lb as that’s what it weighed first time but it slipped of the sheet. When weighed second time it was still touching the floor but we were concerned with the health of the fish so settled on 65 lb 2 oz then returned it.” 

Early May 2008
A Thresher Shark, Alopias vulpinus, was seen feeding at the surface off Portland, Dorset, exceptionally early in the year. 

21 November 2007
A five metre long Thresher Shark, Alopias vulpinus, was landed at Newlyn Fish Market and was caught by skipper of the Imogen, Roger Nowell, whilst trawling for squid and John Dory off Land's End, Cornwall. It weighed weighed  510 kg (1,125 lb) and was the heaviest on record landed at Newlyn. Comparatively, the angling record fish weighed 146 kg. Commercial fishermen have landed Thresher Sharks up to 400 kg before. 

5 September 2007
An astonishing 462+ Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, were seen in the morning between Longships and The Brisons, off the west of the Cornish mainland!  Accompanying the sharks were many Gannets, suggesting that fish and plankton would have been present. Also, in much the same place (10 km sq. SW 33) between 20 and 24 Risso’s Dolphins, Grampus griseus, and 35 Common Dolphins Delphinus delphis, were recorded. 

20 July 2007
Fisherman Pip Farline landed a 3 metres long Thresher Shark, Alopias vulpinus, that had become entangled in his salmon nets, 200 metres off Filey, near Scarborough, Yorkshire. Thresher Sharks are a pelagic species that are occasionally seen inshore in the English Channel, but are much rarer in the North Sea and the last one reported from off the Yorkshire coast was over 80 years ago. The length includes its abnormally long tail that it uses to strike or thresh fish. 

21 April 2007
A Basking Shark, Cetorhinus maximus, was seen near the Lizard, Cornwall, swimming out to the Point.

19 April 2007
A small (3 to 4 metres long) Basking Shark, Cetorhinus maximus, was seen by Edward Murray off Picklecombe Fort at the western entrance to Plymouth Sound around 2:30 pm. It was circling, apparently feeding.

BMLSS Basking Sharks

The first recorded Basking Shark was seen off Cornwall on 14 April 2007, off Lantic Bay by Roger Phillips. 
Cornish Baking Shark Records 2007

4 February 2007
A 7.5 metres (TL) long Basking Shark, Cetorhinus maximus, 2.3 tons gutted, was landed by a Dutch trawler in Denmark. The liver weighed 400 kg. 

31 January 2007
Fishermen Lee Allen and Gary Cann caught a 95 kg (210 lb) Porbeagle Shark, Lamna nasus, in a net set for Bass over night in St Ouen's Bay (west coast of Jersey), half a mile off the beach. In the weeks previously several Bass had been bitten in half in their nets. The fish was sold for over £200. It is unusual for Porbeagle Sharks to be caught in the winter months, and and they are usually caught in the summer in the southern part of the English Channel.

Marine Wildlife of the North-east Atlantic Ocean Yahoo Group (Main Group)
BMLSS Sharks

c. 13 October 2006
Sport angler Anton Kristiansen was out fishing with Turid Kvammen at Smøla, off the coast of Nordmøre, northwest Norway when he hooked and landed a Bluntnosed Six-gilled Shark, Hexanchus griseus, called kamtannhai in Norwegian. It measured 2.5 meters long and weighed 120 kg (264 lb).

This shark is a large deep water predatory species that is rarely caught by commercial fishermen and even less often by anglers. The British Isles record angling catch was caught off Ireland. Hexanchus griseus have six gill slits (the majority of sharks have only five gill slits) and with only one dorsal fin set near the tail it is most distinctive.

BMLSS Sharks
BMLSS 6-gilled Sharks

6 September 2006
A 210 kg (gutted weight) Thresher Shark, Alopias, was caught in the North Sea, landed in Sweden and put on sale in Finland.

25 June 2006
Martin Elliot and myself have recorded large numbers of Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, off West Cornwall in perfect sea conditions throughout the day. Because of movement between the morning and evening it is hard to be exact on numbers but involved a minimum of 60 animals and a maximum of 100.

16-17 January 2006
Twenty four egg cases of the endangered Skate, Dipturus (=Raja) batis, were  discovered on the Sandside shore near the Dounreay nuclear power plant, Caithness, west of Thurso and Scrabster Harbour and John o'Groats on the northernmost coast of mainland Scotland, the first records reported to the Shark Trust and the first records on the mainland Scotland since these egg case occurrences have been recorded. 

The egg cases measured between 23 to 28 cm long and 13 to 16 cm wide in a dried state and the first seventeen were discovered in a 15 minute along the beach.
When the egg cases are placed in water they expand in size.

Shark Trust Eggcase Hunt
Caithness Eggcase Walk

Egg Capsules of Rays & Sharks (Link to the Web Pages)
BMLSS Mermaid's Purses
January 2005 Report

The Skate is an endangered species.
BMLSS Sharks and Rays

26 June 2005
A shark landed at Plymouth dockside was a 118 cm (TL) female Bluntnosed Six-gilled Shark, Hexanchus griseus, caught on longline due west of Cornwall  (50°N 8°W). This is a deep water predatory shark species. 

Late January 2005

These large egg cases were washed up on the shores of the Orkney Isles, north of mainland Scotland.
The large size of these egg cases means they are almost certainly the egg cases of the endangered Skate, Dipturus batis. Over a hundred egg cases were washed up.
Full Report
Egg Capsules of Rays & Sharks (Link to the Web Pages)
BMLSS Mermaid's Purses

29 September 2004
One of the most extraordinary shark tales involved the discovery of a tropical Oceanic White-tip Shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, that had badly lost its way and was discovered swimming around a warship in a brackish water fjord near Gullmarsfjorden in west Sweden. It died shortly afterwards. The shark, a male, was 230 cm long, (total length), and weighed 65.65 kg. This is the first record in northern European seas and it has never been discovered around the British coast. A Swedish Museum in Gothenburg has now the shark for further examination.

The Oceanic White-tip Shark is found worldwide in epipelagic tropical and subtropical waters between 20° North and 20° South latitude. Its range is from Portugal to the Gulf of Guinea in the eastern Atlantic. There are a few records from the Mediterranean Sea. It lives in sea temperatures above 21° C. It is usually found over deep water a long way from the shore. It is known to associate with Pilot Whales and may follow boats or ships if a constant food source is available. This shark has a reputation for attacking Man. 

How could the shark have arrived in the fjord? The speculation could involves man's activities as a discard from a deep water fishing catch? 

Further Information
Fishbase entry
BMLSS Sharks

July 2004
We discovered a 1.93 metres (6 ft 4 in) long fresh shark washed up dead on the beach between Hornsea and Mappleton on the Yorkshire North East coast.

This shark appears to be a Porbeagle Shark, Lamna nasus. There is a population of this large predatory shark in the North Sea. Their occurrence may match the Salmon on which they prey. Specimens washed up dead on the beach are unusual. 
BMLSS Sharks

31 November 2003
A Cornish long-line fishermen has caught a total 115 Porbeagle Sharks, Lamna nasus, on two long-line fishery trips to their feeding grounds off Cornwall. The largest one weighed 60 kg (132 lb), but is unclear if this was the weight before on after it was gutted. It was two metres long, probably including the tail fin. These look like a pre breeding stock of Porbeagles with females that do not attain maturity until they are two metres in length. This mass capture has raised the ire of environmentalists as the large species of sharks and even some of smaller species like the Angel Shark, Squatina squatina, are vulnerable to excessive fishing. In the 1960s the Newfoundland fishery for Porbeagle was seriously overfished as ceased as a commercial activity. Hundreds of Porbeagle Sharks are caught off northern France each year. 
BBC News Report
BMLSS Sharks

16 February 2003
A 117 cm pup long of a Blunt-nose Sixgill Shark, Hexanchus griseus, was landed at Mevagissey, south Cornwall. The shark weighed 6.3 kg before gutting. The Bluntnosed Sixgill Shark is principally a deep water species, usually found offshore and near the bottom at depths of up to 1,800 metres.  Young specimens can however occasionally be found inshore in cold water at depths as shallow as 25 - 50 metres, especially near rocky coasts or islands where deep water occurs close by.
Sixgill Shark pups measure 65 cm - 70 cm at birth and can grow up to at least 4.8 metres (over 15 ft) long. This grey coloured sharks is unusual in that compared with most species of shark, they have an extra pair of gills. Females are thought to have 22 - 108 pups per litter.
Full Report

23 July 2001
Unidentified Shark
Two divers, one of them a commercial fisherman, came across an unrecognised shark lying stationary on the bottom near Alderney in the Channel Islands. It was over a metre long and it was not any of the common shark species normally found around the islands. 
They looked in the book and came up with unlikely match of the Nurse Shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum. They said the shark remained motionless on the bottom. The body appeared dark grey with no markings.
This tropical species has never been recorded in British seas although Gerald Jennings (Calypso Publications) reports a record from Portugal.

18 July 2001
A large (15 kg) Stingray, Dasyatis pastinaca,  caught off Helford, Cornwall was landed at Newlyn. A small (15 cm) Marbled Electric Ray, Torpedo marmorata, was caught in a crab pot off Freathy, Whitsand Bay, south-east Cornwall. Both fish are quite rare for the south-west.

11 July 2001
A young (1.5 metre long) Thresher Shark found at Gunwalloe Fish Cove, on the Lizard, Cornwall  has been confirmed as a Bigeye Thresher Shark, Alopias superciliosus.  This is the first record of this species from shallow British waters.

15 May 2001
Basking Sharks have been seen in appreciable numbers off the south Devon coast. Ten sharks were seen feeding just outside the mouth of the Salcombe-Kingsbridge estuary.

November 2000
Bill Chadwick reported a rare deep water shark with the name in the book as the Frilled Shark, Chlamydoselachus anguineus. It was landed in Killybegs, County Donegal, Ireland, by Michael Flannery, on board the Emerald Dawn (out of Kerry I think). This specimen (one out of 3) was sent to the Museum of Natural History in Dublin for examination.  These animals were caught as part of an on going deep sea survey in search for commercially viable deep water species run by BIM (Board Iasca Mhara). All the information was confirmed by John Hackett of BIM. 

12 August 2000
The sleek lines of 4 Blue Sharks, Prionace glauca, were seen 7 miles off the Bishop's Rock, off the westernmost tip of Cornwall. Fish is thrown overboard to attract Wilson's Petrels and other sea birds and the sharks arrive. 

17 July 2000
An Electric Ray, Torpedo nobiliana, was caught, whilst fishing for Nephrops (Scampi), 8 miles north of Lossiemouth, Moray Firth, NW Scotland, by the Banff registered vessel "Charisma". The ray immediately made one of the crew aware of it's identity by giving him an electric shock. It has found a temporary home in the MacDuff Public Aquarium but it is not on public display because of the danger to the public in their open ray tank. It will be returned to sea. This species is the commoner of the two species of Electric Ray found around Britain (the other one is the Marbled Electric Ray, Torpedo marmorata); both are generally southern species and are much rarer further north. This species is one that divers should be warned not to touch, if they spot a ray swimming in mid-water. Most records from British seas are in the summer and autumn. 

3 June 2000
A school of 20 to 30 Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, remained in the St. Ives area, Cornwall,  for more than a day.

24 April 2000
Several Basking Sharks, Cetorhinus maximus, were seen from the ferry Scillonian on its way from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly . On 28 April 2000, a Basking Shark was trapped in Penzance lock until it was released at high tide.

March 2000
The first Basking Shark, Cetorhinus maximus, of the summer was seen in Booby's Bay, Cornwall. The 3 metre plus shark (10-footer) was spotted by Clive James, from the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. Last summer the same stretch of coast was the scene of spectacular visits by groups of Basking Sharks.

2 January 2000
Doug Herdson (National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth) spotted a 5 metre long Basking Shark feeding in S. Mounts Bay, SW Cornwall. Basking Sharks are normally only seen in summer and are meant to stop feeding during the winter. 
Other Winter reports can be found on the list collated by Ray Dennis: