A normal surf session in England suddenly turned into a scene from a wildlife documentary when a giant bluefin tuna exploded out of the water just yards from a surfer.
The enormous fish appears to be hunting bait when it rockets from the ocean, its entire body airborne before slamming back into the sea. The surfer keeps paddling as one of the fastest, most powerful fish in the Atlantic goes on the hunt behind him.
Check out the footage linked here and below.
The video circulating on Instagram captures the giant Atlantic bluefin tuna launching from the water and snatching a smaller fish in the process. The tuna breaches with astonishing speed, its torpedo-shaped body momentarily clearing the surface before crashing back into the sea only yards from the unsuspecting surfer.
A follow-up post explains that the giant predator was actively feeding, chasing baitfish into the shallows while surfers happened to be in the water. From the beach, the encounter looks almost surreal: one moment there’s an ordinary wave rolling through; the next, hundreds of pounds of bluefin are airborne.
That behavior is classic tuna.
Atlantic bluefin are among the fastest fish in the ocean, capable of speeds around 43 mph, and individuals commonly reach around two meters long. Cornwall Wildlife Trust notes that they can weigh up to roughly 250 kilograms — 550 pounds.
And increasingly, they’re showing up around British surfers.
Marine ecologist Professor Angus Atkinson remembers his first modern sighting off South Devon as an “awesome, unexpected and unforgettable” moment: “a sudden bolt of silver as a tuna jumped clear of the sea.” He says bluefin numbers have steadily increased around southwest Britain over the past decade.
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Similar scenes have been documented before. In 2020, photographer Megan Hemsworth captured a huge bluefin breaching behind surfers at Watergate Bay in Cornwall.
“It blew us all away,” Hemsworth said. “Cornwall is buzzing to see we have more tuna returning to its waters.”
The comeback is significant. Bluefin effectively disappeared from British waters for decades following intense fishing pressure, but improved international management has helped the population rebound. The UK now operates tightly regulated commercial and catch-and-release fisheries.
For surfers, though, the science takes a back seat to the visual.
A giant tuna launching itself into the air just behind the lineup is a pretty convincing reminder that you’re sharing the ocean with something much faster — and considerably heavier — than you are.
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