Six-stone shark caught off the Pembrokeshire coast

A fisherman from South Wales has caught a six-stone shark – the largest of its kind ever hooked in British waters.

The tope shark weighed 82lb 10z (5.9 stone), almost 3.5 times heavier than average, according to the Daily Mail.

It was caught by Mario Asprou off Strumble Head, Pembrokeshire in December last year.

Tope, also known as the School Shark, can grow to nearly two metres long and is listed as a critically endangered species.

Asprou’s catch, which was returned to the water after being weighed, has now been verified as the biggest tope ever caught in the UK.

It beat the previous record of a 77lb 3oz fish caught by Ryan Wingfield in 2018, also at Strumble Head.

British Sea Fishing told the Mail that catching such a shark from the shore is a ‘very difficult undertaking indeed’ and that ‘due to the protected nature of this species, anyone lucky enough to a tope should unhook their catch as quickly as possible and return it to the water’.

The largest tope ever recorded globally is a 98.5 pounds (44.7 kg) beast, and the longest is a 6.4 feet (195 cm) female, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.