The strange case of tuna that 'swam up the M5'

SCIENTISTS BAFFLED AS A TUNA THEY'D TAGGED TRAVELS NORTH

SCIENTISTS who satellite-tagged a tuna followed it up the M5 – after it was picked up by a tourist.

Researchers at the University of Exeter had tagged the Atlantic bluefin tuna off Plymouth a few weeks ago, as part of a research project. But the tag detached itself from the giant fish – and later signalled researchers that it had washed up on Whitsand Bay in Cornwall.

But when the PhD students sent to collect it were unable to find the tag for over two days, they checked its GPS location beacon. They found it was on its way to Birmingham up the M5 and the uni team quickly launched an appeal to recover it. After making three radio appeals the device was eventually recovered, thanks to the help of two BBC local radio stations.