The grainy footage, shot from a tourist boat off the Balearic Islands, shows a dark shadow gliding beneath the surface. It is a great white shark, a creature thought to be nearly extinct in the Mediterranean. For British holidaymakers, used to the gentle laps of the Costa del Sol, this is a jarring reminder that the sea is not just a swimming pool with tapas.
The debate has moved from the scientific to the social: how safe are our summer escapes? On social media, the clip has divided opinion. Some call for greater monitoring, others for a ban on swimming in certain areas.
But the real human cost is more subtle. Local fishermen report a drop in tourists venturing beyond the shore. 'They stay in the shallows now,' says Maria, a boat operator in Mallorca.
'They have seen Jaws too many times.' The cultural shift is palpable. British holidaymakers, who once laughed off jellyfish warnings, are now downloading shark identification apps.
The reaction says more about us than the shark: we fear what we do not understand, and we understand very little of the sea. This may be a rare sighting, but its impact on British behaviour will ripple for summers to come.
