Shark washed up on popular Welsh beach

A SHARK has been found washed up on a popular Welsh beach.

The smooth-hound shark, right, was spotted on the sand at Newton beach in Porthcawl, but swimmers need not fear – this type of shark usually lives on crustaceans, shellfish and molluscs.

According to the Shark Research Institute, female common smoothhound sharks can reach at least 5.4ft in length, while males reach 3.6ft. They can be found from the UK to the Mediterranean, Morocco, Canary Islands and sometimes the Azores.

Also known as “gummy sharks”, they are a shallow water species which are becoming increasingly common across the UK. The shark is the latest in a stream of mesmerising wildlife found on the Welsh coast during the heatwave.

Swarms of moon jellyfish turned the sea pink off the Ceredigion coast. Plankton has been making our seas glow bright blue in the early hours. And huge algae blooms were captured by photographers in the waters off Port Talbot.

Normal sea temperatures for this time of the year rarely rise above 15°C but 20°C is likely in the coming days around the UK.

In Bracklesham Bay in Sussex, sea temperatures reached 21.6°C – compared to 20.6°C in Zuma Beach, California.

In Swansea, the sea measures a balmy 16.7°C compared to an average of 15.8°C.

In Rhyl, the sea is 16.1°C, compared with an expected 15.7°C.