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(Image: SWNS)

But British marine experts say a three-metre fish found off the remote island of St Kilda in Scotland is one of a kind.

Dubbed the "sofa shark" on account of its flabby features, this super-rare sea beast has not graced the shores of the north of the UK ever before.

The fish, which has narrow eyes, a large mouth and a broad head with a short, rounded snout, was discovered by Marine Scotland and is alien to our waters.

Notably, it also has large flaps of skin on the anterior rims of the nostrils, wibbly wobbly muscles and an oily liver, which makes up 25% of its total weight.

Its freakishly large liver allows it to hover over the bottom of the ocean with little effort.

But the slow moving predator is unlikely to be honing in surfers braving Scotland's icy waters at time soon.

With its tiny teeth, this harmless species normally likes nothing more than munching on bony fishes like eels, squid and shrimp.

(Image: GETTY)

Marine biologist Francis Neat was gobsmacked when he hauled in his freaky catch during a survey on the West of Scotland.

He said: "I was pretty surprised when it landed in our boat.

"We quickly measured and weighed it before sending it back into the water.

"We hadn't seen one in 10 years. It's not unique to Scotland but is certainly interesting to look at.

A spokesman for the Scottish Shark Tagging programme said the species was a welcome addition to their list.

He said: "We've never seen this type of shark in Scotland before and it's great to add it to our long list of species in Scotland.

"Not too long ago we were told that there was only 32 different types of shark in Scottish waters but in the past year we've learned that there are actually 72 different species, many of which are in deep water."

(Image: IG)

At the moment, there are 72 different types of shark living in Scottish waters.

The psuedotrakias microdon can live at depths as deep as 1,400m but was caught at 600 metres on the west coast of the country.

It weighed around 60 kilograms and was measured at two and a half metres. The species are rarely encountered but have been spotted in locations around the world, including the western Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean.

They normally swim close to the sea floor and only occasionally come into shallower water over the continental shelf.