Beachgoers raced to get out of the water after spotting a shark.

Swimmers saw a fin cutting through the waves near Folkestone, close to where children and families were playing.

Mum Emma Horne, 30, told The Sun she raced to get her two sons out of the water near The Warren.

"There were two young boys who spotted it and were clearly scared — they ran away and one of them shouted, ‘is that a shark?’," she said.

“I warned people and a woman quickly called her dog out of the sea. She was worried.

“Finley and Alby were playing with their nets so we told them to get out then watched it from a distance."

It is thought that the mystery fish could well have been a basking shark.

The sharks, which eat plankton rather than fish (or humans), are the second-largest living sharks in the world.

Fully grown adults can grow up to 8m in length and weigh up to 5,200 kg.

They have been seen a number of times off the Kent coast, and have also been known to wash up on shore.

In 2018, a 7ft to 8ft basking shark washed up on in Deal.

Paul Shadbolt, who made the discovery, said: "I think it may have died from malnourishment because basking sharks are not as thin as that.

"Plankton is usually found in warm, clear water, and right now the sea around here is neither. So I think it didn't have enough and gave up the ghost.

"I was quite shocked when I first saw this. It was a very sad sight."