The entirely white tope shark, which measured around 3ft, is leucistic, a condition which means it lost all the pigment in its skin, and was snared near the Isle Of Wight
Jason Gillespie pictured with his incredible catch (Image: Gillespie Family / SWNS)
The first ever albino all-white shark to be caught within British waters has been snared near the Isle Of Wight.
Jason Gillespie, 50, reeled in the entirely white tope shark while deep-sea fishing with some friends.
The shark, which measured around 3ft, is leucistic, a condition which means it lost all the pigment in its skin.
Jason, from Waterlooville, Hampshire, would usually immediately release a tope shark – but reeled this one on board so he could take a few snaps before letting it go, LeicestershireLive reports.
The shop fitter said: “I’ve been fishing for 30 years and I’ve never seen one like that. Apparently it’s a condition where the pigment dies out of the skin colour.
Jason Gillespie reeled in the entirely white tope shark while deep-sea fishing with some friends (Image: Gillespie Family / SWNS)
“It’s similar to an albino, but they have red eyes generally.
“I caught it on Tuesday, off the Isle of Wight – what’re the chances? I have no idea. It’s the fish of a lifetime, one in a million.
“I’ve certainly never seen one, it’s been on Facebook since Tuesday and no one else has come forward and said they have caught one.
“I heard of one person from Wales who caught one years ago but it was much smaller, about 6lb.
The shark measured around 3ft (Image: Gillespie Family / SWNS)
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“I think generally if they lose their colour they struggle to survive because they don’t have the same camouflage and they can’t hunt as effectively and they get picked up by predators.
“With tope, they are a protected species, so we unhook them in the water, but the minute we saw this one I shouted to my mate to grab the net and knew I needed to get some photos of it so we pulled her on board and took some pictures.
“We released her as quick as possible, she was only on the boat for less than a minute.”
The tope shark feed on a variety of fish species, crustaceans or cephalopods, and can travel huge distances.
They are often found in the UK and can travel from Britain all the way to the Canary Islands.
