A GIANT tuna which can feed a thousand people has been caught off the south coast.
Jonathan Simper, 59, was four miles out of Dartmouth, Devon , when son Harry, 29, and crewman Wayne Adams spotted the 8ft beast in their trawler net.
They were set to release the endangered bluefin back into the sea, but it was already dead.
The crew then brought it to Brixham harbour, where a derrick had to lift the 32st (201kg) catch out of the boat.
It was sold to a wholesaler for £1,800 and can be divvied up into 1,000 portions.
Jonathan said: “We are very pleased with the sale price but it is an unexpected bonus.
“It was completely by chance, a once in a lifetime thing.”
Jonathan and Harry, 29, have run the family business together for 15 years.
Bluefin tuna can reach around 10ft in length, although the average size is about 5-6ft, and can weigh up to 400kg.
They can reach speeds of up to 43mph in pursuit of prey and adult tuna have no natural predators apart from man.
The massive apex predators disappeared from British waters in the 1960s as overfishing pushed the species to the brink of extinction.
But numbers have rebounded in recent years and it was taken off the endangered species list in 2021.
