It’s always a bit of a surprise what you could find in London’s River Thames, from a five-foot-long snake skin to fascinating historical artefacts like the Waterloo Helmet – now how about a shark?
Footage appearing to show a shark swimming under the surface of the capital’s city river this week has captured fans’ attention online.
And many, of course, couldn’t help drawing comparisons to a popular recent Netflix movie with a very similar premise.
Some have been left pretty baffled by the clip, which has been viewed over 1,200,000 times on TikTok and seems to show something that looks rather like a shark’s fin gliding through the river near Hammersmith Bridge.
‘Shark spotted in the Thames 22.07.24’ is written across the video, with user @charlottewebbb quipping in her caption: ‘Is this the end? #shark #thames #sharkattack #london’
Several fans then took those comment and ran with them, with @jmd_100x wondering: ‘Was Under Paris really a warning?’
‘Was literally thinking this,’ responded @char_tanner.x and @maze_ruunner_girly added: ‘Yay glad to know I wasn’t the only one that was thinking this.’
Under Paris is the shark attack film set in the French capital that had fans obsessed when it dropped on Netflix in June, dubbing it a ‘10/10 anxiety inducing horror’.
In Xavier Gens’ movie, a grieving scientist (Bérénice Bejo as marine researcher Sophia) is forced to face her tragic past when a giant shark appears in the Seine, in order to save Paris from an international bloodbath.
‘Under Paris movie coming to life,’ agreed Liz Maty in the comments under the viral real-life clip, while @nnimzy quipped: ‘I just watched Under Paris, goodbye.’
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‘Under London ???’ joked someone else.
However, for those of you convinced that this sighting couldn’t be a shark – well actually it could.
In 2021, the first full ‘health check’ of the River Thames in 64 years found sharks, seahorses, oysters and seals are living in its waters.
It was the first time the river had undergone a proper review since being declared ‘biologically dead’ in 1957.
As several people also pointed out in the caption, it was likely a tope shark, which can reach over six foot in length but are considered critically endangered.
Charlotte confirmed it was roughly five foot in length.
Tope sharks can live for over 50 years and travel great distances as they are highly migratory.
According to research by the Zoological Society of London, one tope shark was tagged in Scotland only to turn up in the Mediterranean waters off Sicily five years later.
It has previously been found out that several different species of shark live in the Thames, including tope, starry smooth hound and spurdog.
‘This is an amazing and uncommon sighting of a rare and endangered fish, one of five small shark species that are found in the tidal Thames,’ commented a London Wildlife Trust spokesperson, as per LBC.
“None of these are a threat to people, and it is unfortunate that many people have become fearful of group of fishes with a very ancient history – they first evolved 450 million years ago – incredibly vital to our marine ecosystems and are now under severe threat from persecution and exploitation across the world.’
The Port of London Authority confirmed that the Thames had an ‘abundance of aquatic life with occasional visits from dolphins, porpoises and even whales’.
But it struck a more sceptical note, telling the BBC, that it was ‘unlikely that any sharks would swim that far upstream’.
Under Paris is streaming now exclusively on Netflix.
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