You normally find them in tins with brine but a Somerset fisherman had a lucky catch when a skipjack tuna estimated at 20lb was found at Otter Head on Budleigh beach.
Experts say it’s the first record of a skipjack being caught or sighted in South West England.
Ian Carrott, a 54-year-old company director from near Bridgwater, and Leo Curtis, a 37-year-old off-shore worker from Budleigh Salterton – made the unusual find in the shallow water where the Otter joins the sea.
Both were ‘gobsmacked’ by the discovery and tried to help the ‘swaying’ fish back into deeper water.
But the fish appeared disorientated, was ‘thrashing about’ and kept turning for shore.
Once beached, the tuna expired almost immediately.
And that’s when the two men decided not to waste the fish, promptly gutted it and chopped it up for barbecue steaks.
