A great white shark called Nicole, fitted with a satellite tag, has astonished boffins by swimming from Cape Town to Australia and back in nine months….a record for a marine creature.

The shark was also recorded as spending more than 60 per cent of the ‘voyage’ just below the surface causing scientists to speculate the creature – which unlike mammals does not need to surface for air – might have been using the Sun and stars to navigate.

The beast also dived to a new record depth of 3,215 ft (980m).