Fishy characters were up to no good in Farnborough when they stole a unique mother shark from its tank.  

The valuable marble shark was the UK’s only captive breeding female and was being kept in a brick-built shed in Giffard Drive.

The shark’s owner, Peter Newman, discovered the creature was missing when he went to feed it at 10am on Saturday and found the shed door open and all the lights on inside.

Mr Newman, who runs aquarium business The Marine Centre from his home, had fed her at 5pm the previous evening, the last time he saw her.

Mr Newman told the Star: “We’ve fitted alarms and locks now, which we probably should have done before, but you don’t anticipate that somebody’s going to come and steal your shark.”

The female shark is native to the waters around Indonesia and northern Australia and is 2ft long and a mottled brown colour. The male shark, which is of a similar size, was left in the tank.

 He believes the shark was most probably taken by someone who has been in the shop before, possibly a collector.

It is thought the thief may have used a ladder to get into the tank, and he or she would have had to have taken it with them.

Mr Newman and his wife June sell marine and tropical fish, as well as bespoke fish tanks.

The couple have a very successful breeding programme due to their own filtration system, which is based on the natural growth of seaweed in the tank. They breed marble sharks and white-spotted sharks.

Mr Newman, 68, said it would be a struggle to continue to breed the marble sharks because finding a replacement female could take years.

“The male is still there and he’s not very happy. People think the sharks don’t notice these things but they do.”

Mr Newman said the pair’s babies are kept in a separate tank and are all doing fine.

PC Stephen Court, of Farnborough police station, said: “We believe this may have been a targeted burglary of a shark that is extremely rare in the UK.

“The victim is desperate for the fish to be returned and we urge anyone with information about the burglary to contact us.

“Due to the unusual type of shark it will be difficult to sell in this country.

“We would ask anyone who has been offered one to buy to contact police as soon as possible.”

Anyone with information about the incident can contact PC Court at Farnborough police station on 0845 045 45 45 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.