Opportunity Charters were delighted to be out with with Plymouth Marine Safari again for the last shark swim of the season. Check out this awesome video below and if you fancy swimming with them, head over to their website and get booking for next year!

About Blue Sharks

The blue shark is an open-ocean (or pelagic) species that visits UK seas in summer months. In the Atlantic, they appear to follow a clockwise route, following the Gulf Stream to the UK . Visiting the UK in the summer months (June-October), blue sharks usually congregate off the southwest of England (Cornwall and Devon) and the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales. They can typically be seen 10 miles offshore where they prefer the deeper, cooler water.

Blue sharks are active predators and feed mainly on small fish and squid – though they have been known to take seabirds and other small sharks too. They even feed on fish that live near the seabed and have been recorded at depths of up to 350m. The largest blue shark ever caught in UK seas weighed a whopping 256lbs (116kg) and measured over 9ft (2.74m).

Blue sharks give birth to live babies. The fertilised eggs remain within the mother’s uterus where they are nourished by a yolk-sac. Over time, the depleted yolk-sac interlocks with the lining of the mother’s uterus which then acts a bit like a mammal’s placenta. Blue sharks give birth to an average of 35 pups.

Their exact lifespan is unknown, but it is thought to be up to 20 years.