Rare 6ft shark washes up on Hampshire beach – and is quickly decapitated

A search has been declared for the head and fin of a rare shark washed up on the shores of Hampshire after they were taken by apparent trophy hunters.

The smalltoothed sand tiger shark, a species that grows up to 13ft long, was found dead on the Lepe beach in Hampshire, in one of the first sightings on UK shores on Saturday morning.

Scientists hoped to study the species, usually found in tropical and warm temperate waters, which is classified as vulnerable and rarely observed.

Photos and footage of the creature were widely shared on social media, including by TV historian Dan Snow, prompting biologists to ask for the body of the rare shark to be preserved for scientific analysis.

Before Mr Snow could assemble a team of people that could remove the shark carcass, its head and dorsal fin were removed.

‘You can keep the head – but let scientists look first’

In a video post on social media, Mr Snow made an appeal for the temporary return of the head and fins for scientists to investigate.

“A team of local volunteers has gone down to get the shark from the beach but we didn’t get there soon enough,” he said. “We have recovered a good chunk of it but some trophy hunters got there just before us.

“They chopped the head off and dorsal fin tail, which is really, really disappointing because the scientists, the marine biologists that sent us down there werre trying to secure the carcass of this once in a lifetime find in British waters.

“They were really hoping they’d get teeth, they get the head to isotopic analysis, some some really, really useful scientific research.”

He added: “If anybody in the local area has got the head – you can keep the head, there’s no law against that – but can you let the scientists have a look at it first.”

The shark is believed to have been alive on Friday when it was spotted in the shallows of the beach. The shark was pulled out to deeper waters by a local resident, 38-year-old Alisha Openshaw, who said she hoped to save the creature.

“I was heading to the beach for a walk, my mum was already there, so I got took the kids for a nice walk,” Ms Openshaw, from Dibden Purlieu, Hants, said.

“There were a couple of people down there, and they saw the shark splashing. He was splashing around the water around the start, and I got worried that nobody was going to help him.

“At first I wasn’t sure what it could be, but once I got there I could definitely see it was a shark. It must have been there for a good two hours, and I just can’t believe nobody tried to help him.

“I don’t want any animal to suffer, I can’t even kill a fly myself, and I know I just wanted to save him.”

Populations of smalltoothed sand tiger sharks are believed to have declined as a result of human activity, although limited data exists on their spread.

Sand tiger sharks are expected to become more common in UK waters as they warm due to climate change.

In 2022, an 11ft smalltoothed sand tiger shark washed up on the on the coast of Galicia in northwestern Spain for the first time.