An albino shark was caught off the coast of Britain for the first time ever.
Deep sea fisherman Jason Gillespie caught the shark while fishing near the Isle Of Wight, according to an article published Monday by Fox News.
First Ever Albino All-White Shark Caught Off Britain https://t.co/xZBtqsilKq
— TMZ (@TMZ) October 4, 2020
“I’ve been fishing for 30 years and I’ve never seen one like that,” Gillespie, 50, said. “It’s the fish of a lifetime, one in a million.”
The tope shark is known for its all-white coloring which comes from a condition called leucism. The condition occurs when some or all of the animal’s pigment cells fail to develop, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Michael Jordan Enters One Of The Largest Fishing Tournaments With Record-Breaking $3 Million Purse)
“I [had] heard of one person from Wales who caught one years ago but it was much smaller, about 6 lb,” Gillespie said, according to Fox News. “I think generally if they lose their color, 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.”
The shark was released after Gillespie took photos with it for “less than a minute.”
“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,” Gillespie explained.