Shark spotted prowling shallows off Ibiza beach in FIFTH sighting off Spain in a week as scientists baffled

ANOTHER shark has been spotted off a beach in Ibiza in the fifth sighting off Spain in a week.

The seven-foot blue shark was filmed gliding through the water at Calo des Moltons, a small pebbled cove in the north of the island which is a popular spot for snorkelling.

The latest sighting occurred Saturday afternoon, just over a week after a shark sparked panic at a Costa Blanca beach.

Bathers ran to safety through waist-high water as a blue shark neared the shoreline off Aguamarina Beach, south of Alicante, at around 10am last week.

While fishermen in Majorca were left in shock when the massive cow shark approached their boat last weekend.

The men turned the boat engine off to avoid hurting it.

Footage showed the shark’s telltale fin appearing above the water line as it approached a fisherman’s boat.

Local fisherman Rogelio Santos Queiruga insisted at the time the tintorera, which appeared to be injured from a harpoon, faced greater danger than humans.

He admitted: “If we try to touch it, it can hurt us with its teeth or rough skin.”

The following morning, footage showed another blue shark lurking in the water at the port in the popular city of Ciutadella in Menorca. 

Experts have been left baffled by the increase of sharks spotted near the shore and cannot know what appears to draw in the predators.

Dr Gavin Naylor, director of The Florida Program of Shark Research told The Sun Online: “We’ve seen a few similar cases where blue sharks would end up on the shore.

“However, I’ve never seen a case like this where the shark ended up in extremely shallow waters on tourist beaches.

He explained: “Blue sharks are usually pelagic, which means they live in the open sea.

“You’d have to go approximately 10 miles offshore before you come across one of them.

“Maybe it’s food or maybe there’s a lens of cold water that is driving them from offshore into close in. 

“But for now, these sightings in Spain remain a complete mystery to us.”

According to the , there have only been six confirmed unprovoked attacks in Spain since 1847.

In 2018, tourists ran out of the water in panic after a blue shark emerged off the Calas de Majorca beach. 

In 2016, a blue shark was blamed for attacking a tourist further down the coast in Elche, near Alicante. 

The 40-year-old victim was rushed to hospital after being bitten and required stitches for his hand.