Rare shark not seen for 27 years caught off UK coast

A fisherman made an unlikely discovery while fishing off the Penzance coast – a shark that hasn’t been seen for nearly three decades.

Well, kind of. 

Richard West, a 35-year-old fisherman from Plymouth, found a Lego shark lost at sea in an infamous cargo ship incident 27 years ago.

He pulled the tiny toy up while fishing for monkfish, sole and dory in an area 20 miles south of Penzance last Tuesday.

Richard said: ‘I could tell straight away what it was because I had Lego sharks in the pirate ship set when I was little. I loved them.

‘It’s been 25 years since I’ve seen that face.’

Following the unexpected discovery, Richard contacted the project Lego Lost at Sea.

‘This Lego shark is one of 51,800 lost overboard from the Tokio Express and the only one we’ve ever seen,’ the group said in a Facebook post, referring to a cargo ship that crashed on February 13, 1997.

‘These Lego sharks featured in several Lego sets from 1997, including Shark Cage Cove, Shark Attack and Deep Sea Bounty.’

‘Only another 51,799 to find,’ it added.

Richard told Lego Lost at Sea: ‘It’s way better than any fish I’ve caught all week.’

A freak wave swept 62 shipping containers into the sea 20 miles (32km) off Land’s End, Cornwall. One of these containers was transporting 4,756,940 pieces of Lego, the majority of which was sea-themed.

Lego Lost at Sea founder Tracey Williams told Richard that the official Lego inventory showed that 22,200 dark grey Lego sharks and 29,600 light grey ones were in the lost container.

She said: ‘This Lego shark is one of 51,800 lost overboard from the Tokio Express and the only one we’ve ever seen.

Tracey also asked anyone else who has retrieved Lego from the spill to contact the Lego Lost at Sea external project, in the hope more pieces might be added to the project’s map, which aims to record sightings for a scientific paper on the original incident.

‘Richard and I now have joint custody of the shark,’ Tracey explained.

Following the discovery, West said: ‘I was so excited. I was more happy about finding the shark that anything else I caught this week.

‘It’s priceless – it’s treasure!’

Recently, other Lego pieces from the container have been discovered in the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Wales and Ireland.

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