The Exmouth Tuna Story

It was a normal sunset paddle board down on the Exe Estuary in Exmouth, Devon when a rather unexpected visitor came to say hello!

A rather large Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna fish (Thunnus thynnus) was filmed by our very own Derek Johnson swimming among the paddle boarders in Exmouth.

River Exe Estuary

The unexpected visitor estimated to be between 7 to 8 feet was captured on video circling the boards. It's possible that the fish had latched on to the group as from below the surface the tuna may have thought they were other tuna fish and wanted to school with them to get safe passage through the many sandbars in the estuary out to sea.

The tuna circled the group several dozen times sometimes brushing the boards by accident before swimming away.

As the group headed toward shore the giant tuna came back again for one last hello before heading out to sea once again and vanishing.

Media frenzy

The visit made headlines including the BBC, local newspapers and radio and it was also picked up by several national news outlets and magazines inclusion Scuba Diver and many more.

We suppose it makes a more cheery news headline than the current Coronavirus does!

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