A group of divers have had a spectacular encounter with a four-metre shark swimming just 12 metres below the surface off the coast of El Hierro, one of the smaller Canary Islands.

The shark, a female smalltooth sand tiger (Odontaspis ferox), was spotted in the Mar de las Calmas, off the southern coast of the island, during a recreational dive involving eight people.

The encounter took place at around 1:40pm on Wednesday at the dive site known as Baja Rosario, close to La Restinga in the municipality of El Pinar.

According to Jon Morán, from the Buceo La Restinga diving centre, the shark remained close to the group for around six or seven minutes. It kept its distance from the divers before eventually swimming away towards deeper water.

The diving centre described the encounter as "a huge gift from the ocean" after confirming that the female had returned to the waters of the Mar de las Calmas during August.

Why is the sighting significant?

The appearance is particularly important because the smalltooth sand tiger is a protected and relatively little-known shark species that normally inhabits much deeper waters.

The latest encounter involved a female and comes almost a year after the last sharks observed in the area left around the middle of September last year.

The diving team, led by instructors Jon and Carmen, stressed that encounters with the sharks should be treated responsibly and that divers should never attempt to chase, approach or interfere with them.

They said they hope the female will remain around El Hierro for several months, as other individuals have done previously.

Sharks repeatedly return to El Hierro

Although seeing such a large shark at just 12 metres below the surface is unusual, the presence of the species around southern El Hierro is well documented.

According to information from the Canary Islands Government, the sharks display strong philopatry towards the Mar de las Calmas. In simple terms, this means the same individual animals, particularly females, have a tendency to return repeatedly to the same area.

This behaviour makes the waters around El Hierro especially valuable for scientists studying the species.

Records compiled by the EUROPARC Spain network show that sightings in the area date back as far as 1965, while a photo-identification catalogue is used to help recognise individual sharks when they return.

Morán himself has previously encountered the species in the waters around El Hierro in 2019 and 2025.

While local diving professionals are familiar with occasional appearances of these sharks, seeing a four-metre specimen at a depth of only 12 metres makes this latest encounter particularly significant.

It also provides another opportunity to study one of the Canary Islands' more elusive marine visitors and its relationship with the unique ecosystem of the Mar de las Calmas.