Research from the University of Southampton suggests several new species of shark could be heading to UK waters as the seas warm due to climate change. A 'shark map' has been produced of the species that occur in Britain with Cornwall found to have the highest diversity with at least 20 species found to occur in the county. While ten new species are considered to possibly colonise UK waters, species that are already here such as basking sharks, thresher sharks and nursehounds continue to decline due to overfishing and other problems. The ten species that are said could* inhabit British waters by 2050 are: 1. Great hammerhead shark 2. Blacktip shark 3. Sand tiger shark 4. Bigeye thresher shark 5. Longfin mako shark 6. Copper shark 7. Oceanic whitetip shark 8. Silky shark 9. Dusky shark 10. Goblin shark * Some of the species on this list I think are more likely than others - the goblin shark for instance is already listed by the IUCN as occurring in the Bay of Biscay, so I would not be surprised if they were already in UK waters in small numbers. The sand tiger, by contrast, is listed as Critically Endangered/Possibly Extinct in European waters - I would rate their chances of colonising as considerably lower. The article with the species list and more information is included below: https://phys.org/news/2018-07-shark-species-uk-seas.html
