FISHERMEN got a shock when they caught a 15.5ft thresher shark in their nets.

The monster shark filled the men's small boat as they fished for salmon off Filey, near Whitby, North Yorkshire.

The shark was caught on Wednesday, only 500 yards off a popular family beach.

Fisherman Pip Farlane and a colleague at first thought they had landed a porpoise and were trying to free it from the nets.

Struggling with the trapped fish, they had to call for help and five men finally landed the shark.

Charles Baker, who runs Baker's Snacks, on Filey beach, said: "Pip called me on his mobile asking whether I had a camera because he'd caught something special.

"I dashed home and couldn't believe my eyes when I got back to the beach and saw what he'd caught.

"I have lived here for 37 years and I have never seen anything like it before."

Thresher sharks are usually found in tropical waters or the Atlantic Ocean, but rarely in the North Sea.

The shark was sold for £210 at Scarborough fish market on the same day.