Stunned fishermen caught more than they bargained for when they landed this deep-sea monster.
The trawlermen couldn't believe their eyes when they hauled in this 21 stone Porbeagle shark.
The eight feet long cousin of the man-eating Great White Shark is thought to be one of the biggest ever found off the Tyne.
Tony Asiamah, 46, owner of Seaview Fisheries, on North Shields Fish Quay, outbid four other firms to buy it. He said: "This is definitely the biggest shark I have ever seen. It is a whopper.
"We get a lot of basking sharks off the coast, which are huge but placid. This has rows of teeth and is exactly how most people imagine a shark.
"I wouldn't fancy being in the water when it was around. Its teeth are designed for shredding and tearing and it is capable of delivering quite a bite.
"Luckily, its main diet is fish. We even found some prawns and whiting in its mouth.
"The crew didn't go out to land one of these. They were fishing for prawns and found it snared up when they hauled their nets in.
"It has turned the fish quay into a tourist attraction. Word has got out and we've had dozens of people coming down to have a look.
"I'm looking at getting about 10 stones of meat out of it and making around £100 once I've sold it off."
The shark was brought ashore by the crew of the Scottish trawler Mizpah, who caught it 15 miles off the Tyne. Tony bid £165 for the shark.
It took two staff two hours to clean, skin and gut the creature before cutting it into shark steaks.
Chinese restaurants are already ordering their cut to make shark fin soup.
Customers can get stuck into shark stews or oven fried shark, while the more daring could try Teriyaki Shark, Grilled Shark Mexicana or Shark Kebabs with Orange and Thyme.
The porbeagle is a fast-swimming, potentially dangerous shark found in the North Sea and Mediterranean, Atlantic and South Pacific oceans. The biggest ever caught was 12 feet long and weighed 33 stone. They feed on fish and come North as they follow the mackerel.
Only one record exists of a Porbeagle attacking a swimmer in Britain, off Devon in June, 1971.
Zahra d'Aronville, of Tynemouth's Blue Reef Aquarium, said: "These used to be common in the North Sea but are getting rarer.
"It is big enough to kill a human but you are unlikely to encounter one in the sea."
A spokesman for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution said: "These sharks are probably more frightened of humans but people should never go near them."
