Anyone else ever seen this?

[slowarm]

Sailed to France at the end of July this year out of Cork. We sat at the Starboard side of the vessel just before the bow. About 45.mins outside of Cork Harbour I saw two fins swim away from the forward wake of the ship. A few minutes later I saw some more, and then some more and some more. These sightings lasted for about 25 minutes, My wife saw some too. Only once did I get a glimpse of these fish and I think they may have been small Blue Sharks. Does anyone else have insight into this.

[JOHN1]

Common Dolphins.

[petemc]

Not strictly a jellyfish

[urlhttp://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Velella_velella/][/url]

[hugo]

Just posted a query about Velella last night. http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... =1&t=46544
Shoals of them washed up on local beaches, but they're only inches long, are you saying they get big enough to be seen from a ship?
I'd be inclined to agree with John1 about the dolphins.

[slowarm]

Definitely not Dolphins or the Sail-By-The-Wind. Either Sharks - Blue or otherwise or perhaps Tope. Each time there were two fins in line and the creature was definitely swimming. The one clear view I got was shark shaped with lighter colour behind and under the pectoral fins and under the back-end of the body near the tail. And they were small - 3-3.5 feet perhaps. And yes Hugo, I was on-board the Pont Aven heading for Roscoff. Don't know exactly how far off shore we were but we could see some of the Gas Rigs in the distance.

[hugo]

Ah, I didnt get the two fins bit properly, I thought you meant two separate fish, not a two-finned fish.

[Last Cast]

It might have been a basking shark you saw.

[Deleted User 3488]

Have seen dolphins swim alongside the bow of the ferry to France on a few occasions.

[JOHN1]

Dolphins are all over the place down south, and there is one thing they love doing and that is riding the bow waves of boats / ships.