A fisherman has caught a shark weighing a whopping 1500lb, which is believed to be the biggest ever fished in Europe.
Twenty-six-year-old Ben Bond from Somerset was on a three-day fishing trip in Carrigaholt, Ireland, when he landed the beast.
Ben spent an hour-and-a-half struggling with the sixgill shark, which was 25ft long.
The shark was too big to pull onto the 40ft boat, but Ben and skipper Luke Aston were able to bring it alongside. As you can see in the video, it was a serious battle.
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Credit: BNPS
Ben said: "It was absolutely massive. When it first took my bait it felt like a very heavy weight. I thought it would be really hard to lift it off the bottom but the real fight was when it was in mid-water.
"After about 75 minutes I saw it near the surface and my eyes nearly popped out. Its tail was at one end of the boat and its head was over halfway up the boat. It had a big set of jaws."
Credit: BNPS
Luke used the animal's length and girth to work out how much it weighed, calculating that it must have weighed around 1500lbs or 107st to make it the biggest ever caught in Europe.
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Ben and the rest of the crew put the sixgill safely back in the water.
Credit: BNPS
Ben said: "There have been very few attacks on humans by sixgill sharks but that's mainly because of how deep they live. I wouldn't have wanted to go into the water with it.
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"I was knackered afterwards and had to have a sit down. I am still buzzing now and very proud that I have caught one of the biggest, if not the biggest, sharks in Europe."
Credit: BNPS
However, Ben's record will not be recognised, because he refused to kill and weigh the shark, as they are a threatened species.
Luke added: "We had someone land a sixgill shark seven years ago which weighed 1,056lbs and that was the biggest ever caught in the British Isles. Ben's catch was much bigger than that. It was 25ft long and at least 1,500lbs. I am an experienced fishermen and it was easily the biggest shark I have seen."
Featured Image Credit: BNPSTopics: shark