Family save shiver of catsharks found stranded on Blackpool beach

A family were surprised to find a shiver of small sharks washed up on the beach in Blackpool at the weekend.

Maria and Adam Clark were enjoying Saturday’s fine weather with a stroll on the beach when they stumbled across 12 small-spotted catsharks stranded in the sand.

The couple quickly got to work saving the tiny sharks returning them to the sea.

“There were twelve altogether plus the eggs shown in the photo,” said Maria.

“All of them were alive and moved and we managed to get them back in the sea, but some weren't strong enough to swim away,” she added.

The small-spotted catshark, formerly known as ‘lesser-spotted dogfish’ are common on the Fylde coast, where they live close to the seabed in relatively shallow relatively. They are the most common shark in UK seas.

In fact, sometimes you might find them on the menu at fish and chip shops, usually under the name ‘rock salmon’.

They sometimes wash up dead on our beaches after storms, but you're most likely to come across one of their egg cases.

Known as mermaid's purses, shark egg cases are a good indicator of what species are breeding nearby. The small-spotted catshark has a small eggcase (5-7cm) with curly tendrils at each corner (see Maria and Adam’s pictures).

Did you know?

This catshark has other common names such as 'rough hound', 'lesser spotted dogfish' and also 'rock salmon', under which name it sometimes appears on the menu in fish and chip shops!