The shark stunned tourists, who gathered on the sand to take photos. The young shark was seen in shallow waters just metres from the shoreline. Worried crowds gathered on the sand of a nudist beach f Maspalomas beach, near Playa del Ingles, in Gran Canaria.
Rather than pose a threat to swimmers, however, the shark was only putting itself in danger due to the shallow water.
Lifeguards successfully managed to usher the baby shark away from shallow water into the deep.
One onlooker joked: “He was checking out the nudist beach.
“People had seemed to have no idea the shark was in the waters before the lifeguards attended to the situation.”
Another said: “Glad I never went in the sea.”
A third said: “Omg glad that I wasn’t at Maspalomas.”
It’s not the first time a shark has caused a stir off Gran Canaria.
In 2015 a woman was bitten while swimming off the coast.
She shared a photo of dozens of teeth marks, adding: “Today I had a face-to-face meeting with a shark. Things that happen when you swim in the Canary Islands in December.”
She later told a local newspaper: “I noticed something pulling at my left arm but I didn’t pay any attention because it felt like a dog biting you when it’s playing.
“I returned to the shoreline swimming crawl and I felt another pull again, more intense this time.
“Half a second later I felt something grabbing hold of me, I turned round and I saw it pulling at me.
“It was a fish. I hit it with my right hand and I saw the shark’s fins as it swam off.
“Everything happened very quickly, in seconds. Although it wasn’t a painful attack, I didn’t realise how serious it was till I got out of the water.
“As I turned round I saw it was a big greyish-brown fish and when I hit it I noticed it had hard, rough skin.
“There are times when I’ve fallen off my bike or I’ve burnt myself cooking and it’s hurt me more.”