Toothless trophy

Like a scene from the movie Jaws, two Pollensa fishermen posed for pictures next to the seven-metre shark caught in their nets ten metres off the coast of Formentor yesterday. However, unlike Jaws the largest of the Mediterranean shark species is harmless and is facing extinction. Yesterday's trophy was caught by Guilermo Cerda and Franciso Perez in their nets as they fished in the Mooro des Pont area in water off Formentor. The two fishermen said that they discovered the shark when they hauled in their nets. “It was quite frightening to see and as we reeled in the nets we were worried it might suddenly come round and wake up,” Cerda said. It took the two fishermen some two hours to haul the shark back to the Port of Pollensa - the shark was bigger than their boat. Once in the port, the shark attracted hundreds of people. Earlier this year in February two sharks of a similar size were spotted swimming close to the coast in the sea off Soller, but they are a rare sight. Their biggest enemies are plastic bags in the water because they swim along with their mouths open. The shark was discovered in the net at 6.30 yesterday morning and, according to the two fishermen, the shark died trapped in the net. Yesterday afternoon the two set to work at carving the shark up for sale.