Some-fins not quite right: Children scamper about on the beach as yards away a 13ft basking shark swims past the beach in Plymouth, DevonThis is the amazing moment a 13ft shark swam just yards away from a packed beach in Britain.
Hundreds of holidaymakers had flocked to the coast of Plymouth, Devon, to soak up the summer sun and take a dip in the sea.
But the bathers on this small beach were unaware that a shark was lurking just offshore as they enjoyed the midday heat on Sunday.
It's OK, we've got him surrounded: Divers edge closer as a holidaymakers, now aware of the shark's prescence, gather on a rock to get a better viewIt was spotted by a group of kayakers who had paddled 200 yards out from the beach and saw a black fin cutting through the water.
School teacher Adrian Waite, 28, was with two friends when he saw the beast and managed to take some pictures.
Adrian said: 'It was really big shark, about 13ft long.
'It's definitely not what you expect to see off our coastline and one of my friends was getting pretty scared.
'We were quite concerned and we certainly didn't want to get into its personal space so we didn't get too close.
'At one stage it was just a few metres away. As it got closer, we realised how big it was big and it was moving very fast.'
The shark was spotted off The Hoe, a very popular tourist destination where hotels and bars line the seafront.
Adrian took photographs which clearly show the fin of the creature, which has since been identified as a harmless basking shark.
The species is the second-largest living shark, after the whale shark, but feeds only on plankton, small fish and invertebrates.
He added: 'Although we were very cautious of the shark, we knew it was unlikely to be a dangerous species in this country.
'I'd heard about basking sharks before so I had a fair idea what it was. I think it was feeding as it looked like its mouth was open.
'They are pretty harmless, but I know they can get a bit nervy if they've got young with them - they can whip their tails about.'
Basking sharks are found in all of the world's temperate oceans and are passive feeders, filtering their food from up to 2,000 tons of water per hour.
source: dailymail
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