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HUGE 18ft Shark Passes Within Inches of a Stunned Swimmer Off The Scottish Coast - Very RARE Event

Ryan Leith had spent days looking for a basking shark off the coast of the Shetland Islands in Scotland when he encountered two sharks close to the coastline at Fladdabiste

Daily Mirror UK, 6 SEP 2020.

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An 18-foot shark was caught on camera passing within inches of a swimmer off the coast of Scotland.

Ryan Leith had spent days scouring the Shetland Islands for basking sharks before he spotted the elusive seabeast last Thursday.

But he couldn’t have guessed quite how close an encounter he was in for.

“I had just about given up when I saw not one, but two sharks just off the coastline at Fladdabister,” the 48-year-old said.

“They were feeding on the abundant plankton that blooms in the sea around Shetland during the summer.

“I stopped the boat and dropped the anchor. The shark seemed to be interested in the boat and swam towards it almost immediately.

“I took a lot of photos of it on the surface and then, as it seemed quite relaxed, I went over the side with my snorkelling gear on.”

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Ryan was out in the water hunting for the majestic animals (Image: Credit: Pen News/Ryan Leith)

The moments that followed are caught on camera, showing the enormous creature passing within touching distance of Mr Leith.

The shark’s enormous jaws then open, ready to scoop up its lunch.

Mr Leith, a port controller for Lerwick Port Authority, estimated it was 18 feet long.

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“I waited close to the boat and filmed the shark with my GoPro as it passed by,” he said.

“It was great to be in the water with such a large and powerful animal.

“The plankton it was feeding on limited the underwater visibility so it would only appear out of the gloom when it was a few metres away from me.

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The basking shark is the second-largest extant shark in the world (Image: Credit: Pen News/Ryan Leith)

"It was quite exciting.”

The basking shark is the second-largest extant shark in the world, after the whale shark.

A filter feeder, it’s usually seen close to the surface with its huge jaws open, filtering out plankton, very small fish and invertebrates from the water.

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Mr Leith said: “In the past – the 1950s and 60s – they were hunted around Shetland by Norwegian fishermen for their livers, which contain large amounts of oil.

“Thankfully now they are a protected species and their numbers are increasing.

“There have been a good number of basking sharks sightings around Shetland over the past few weeks which is great.”

Despite the fierce reputation of sharks as a group, they rarely attack humans and basking sharks in particular are considered harmless.