Dozens of baby sharks wash up on Ferring beach in Sussex

Eight-year-old Henry Carver-Bates was paddling with his mum Shelley in Ferring, near Worthing, this weekend when he spotted "a really big fish, with fins" floating in the surf.

Mum Shelley said he "ran out of the water shouting 'shark, shark'" while she was trying to work out if the marine mammal was dead or alive.

A pair of sharks which washed up on the beach (Image: Shelley Carver-Bates)

She said: "It was pretty sizeable, like two or three feet long. 

"I warned a couple of other people about what we saw and as the tide was coming in at about 1pm, I didn't think we would see any more."

But "the most unusual thing" happened when the pair returned to the beach at around 3.30pm on Sunday to discover at least 12-15 sharks having washed up on the beach, near the Bluebird Cafe.

"We think they got caught up in a fishing net, or something," she said.

Read more: Shock as 'mermaid skeleton' washes up on busy beach

"Everybody was standing around taking photos wondering how they got there. It was pretty cool thing to see, but a pretty sad thing to see as well, as they were dead. Henry was fascinated by it. 

"We’ve seen jellyfish washed up on the beach before, the usual sort of stuff, but never sharks."

A close up of the baby shark (Image: Shelley Carver-Bates)

Shelley, from Horsham, said she visits Ferring beach often but has never seen anything like Sunday's finding. 

"We were quite shocked that sharks could wash up on the beach in this country, it makes you wonder where on earth they have come from - and for them to come so close to our coastline."

Read more: Jellyfish spotted in seafront lagoon (but fear not... they don't sting)

The Environment Agency told The Argus that this could be activity from fishing boats, where fish are thrown overboard when there is "little commercial value."

A spokesman said: "Boats will check prices before they dock and discard fish they don't want. Then the fish wash up on beaches."

The government agency said there is no evidence of pollution.

The Marine Conservation society, a charity which promotes protection for marine wildlife, said some 40 different species of shark can be found in UK waters.