AN avid swimmer got quite a shock after discovering a dead shark on the beach.

Christian Blanch, 41, was swimming at Alum Chine in preparation for multiple marathons on the morning of Friday, July 4. 

Once he left the water, Christian came across a peculiar creature lying dead on the sand.

(Image: Christian Blanch.)

He said: “I just went for a swim down the beach this morning and it was really choppy.

“I just swam one way and walked back the rest of the way and then I could see some seagulls crowded around something and when I had a look I saw this big shark just lying there on the beach.

“It's got a bit of a chunk taken out of it from where the birds were eating it.

"I don't think it had been there that long by the looks of things.”

Christian added: “I was pretty shocked when I did see it as I’d never seen a shark washed up on shore before. I was glad I saw it after swimming as I don't think I would have gone in otherwise.

“I'm not the most confident swimmer, I just have a go and I'm a bit sketchy of things being underneath me.

“I try not to think about it, I conquered my fear of being in deep water last year by doing the pier-to-pier swim.

“I'm in training for an Ironman triathlon 100 ultramarathon and the Loch Ness marathon and the Bournemouth half marathon, all in the space of six weeks. I was down at the beach for training.”

Shark expert and founder of SharkStuff, Georgia Jones, said: “It’s a smoothound (spotty ones are called starry smoothound).

“We get lots of them off the Dorset coast in the summer, they are regularly caught from the beach by recreational anglers and frequently get caught as bycatch in commercial fisheries.”

A Smoothound shark was recently spotted up the Dorset coast in Highcliffe, swimming in the water.

This species of shark is classified as vulnerable by the International Union of Conservation for Nature and can reach a maximum age of 24 years.

The species of shark is harmless to the public.