Tope

By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026

The tope shark (Galeorhinus galeus) is a slim, grey shark of British and Irish waters that grows to 195cm. It is a strong, hard-running fish, popular with both shore and boat anglers.

It is also a fish you can’t keep. Rod and line fishing for tope is legal, but rod-caught tope may not be landed in England or Wales, and Scotland bans landing tope from any fishing boat. In England and Wales, every rod-caught tope goes back.

The IUCN assesses the species as Critically Endangered globally. This guide to tope fishing in the UK covers identification, the law in each nation, why tope are protected, the tackle that keeps them safe and how to release them.

How to Identify a Tope Shark (and Not Mistake It for a Smoothhound)

A small grey shark flapping in the surf could be a tope, a smoothhound or a spurdog. The landing ban covered below applies to tope, so know which one you have before you decide what happens next.

The Shark Trust lists the features that settle it:

Second dorsal fin: small, about the same size as the anal fin and sitting directly above it.
Tail: a very large lower (caudal) lobe, which gives the tope its long, swept-back look.
Teeth: cusped and blade-like, built for gripping and slicing fish.
Colour: blue-grey to light brown on the back, pale to white underneath.
Size: up to 195cm total length for females and 175cm for males.

Against the starry smoothhound, the teeth are the quickest check: blades on a tope, flat grinding plates on the smoothhound. Look rather than touch. A tope’s mouth is no place for fingers.

Feature	Tope	Starry smoothhound
Teeth	Cusped, blade-like	Flat, molar-like
Second dorsal fin	Small, about the size of the anal fin and directly above it	See our smoothhound guide
Colour	Blue-grey to light brown above, pale to white below	See our smoothhound guide

The Shark Trust names four species easily confused with tope: the blue shark, the common smoothhound, the spurdog and the starry smoothhound. Our fish identification guide covers the features to check on any sea catch.

If you can’t tell, treat it as a tope and return it.

Tope Fishing UK Law: You Can Fish for Them, but You Can’t Land Them

Most anglers have heard that tope are “catch and release only”. The law is more exact than that: it bans landing them, and each nation has its own instrument.

England. The Tope (Prohibition of Fishing) Order 2008 (SI 2008/691) came into force on 6 April 2008. Article 3 prohibits fishing for tope by any method other than rod and line. Article 5 says no person may land in England tope caught by rod and line, or beheaded tope.

The Order remains in force, with revised versions dated 2015 and 2020. Its article 2(3) disapplies the fishing provisions in Wales and in the Scottish and Northern Ireland zones.

Wales. The Tope (Prohibition of Fishing) (Wales) Order 2008 (WSI 2008/1438) came into force on 1 July 2008. Its article 5 bans landing rod-caught or beheaded tope in Wales.

Scotland. Article 6(1) of the Sharks, Skates and Rays (Prohibition of Fishing, Trans-shipment and Landing) (Scotland) Order 2012 (SSI 2012/63) prohibits landing tope, wherever caught, from any fishing boat in Scotland. For anything beyond that, check with the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate before you fish.

Northern Ireland. We have not verified the rule. Check with DAERA (the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs) before you target or keep tope.

Nation	Instrument	What it says	Check with
England	SI 2008/691	Rod and line only; no landing of rod-caught or beheaded tope	legislation.gov.uk
Wales	WSI 2008/1438	No landing of rod-caught or beheaded tope	legislation.gov.uk
Scotland	SSI 2012/63, art 6	No landing of tope from any fishing boat	Marine Directorate
Northern Ireland	Not verified	Not verified	DAERA

The result for a rod-caught tope shark in England or Wales: you can’t land or keep it, so it goes back.

Why Tope Are Protected: Slow Growth and a Critically Endangered Status

A female tope may not breed until she is 11 to 17 years old. That is the heart of the problem.

According to the Shark Trust, males mature at 9 to 13 years, and both figures vary by region. Maximum age is estimated at 45 years, possibly 60.

Breeding is slow too. Tope bear live young, 6 to 52 pups after a 12-month gestation, each 30 to 40cm at birth. The female then rests for two years, so she breeds on a three-year cycle.

Pregnant females move inshore into estuaries and shallow bays to pup, which is where shore anglers meet them. Tope range from the surface to 470m across the eastern Atlantic, from Iceland and Norway to Senegal, and higher-latitude populations migrate seasonally.

The IUCN lists the tope as Critically Endangered globally and Vulnerable in Europe and the Mediterranean. A fish that breeds every third year from her teens can’t absorb losses the way fast-breeding species can. For other UK sharks, including the porbeagle, see our sharks hub.

Tope Fishing Tackle: Circle Hooks, Strong Traces and Fresh Fish Baits

Start with the hook. A 2026 SeaAngler tackle piece describes circle hooks as virtually eliminating deep hooking, and a deep-hooked tope is far harder to return in good shape.

That piece sets out one experienced shore angler’s set-up for big tope:

14ft 6in shore rod rated 4 to 8oz
Multiplier reel
8/0 circle hooks on Pennell rigs
Fresh whole mackerel and squid

A 2010 SeaAngler shore report from north-west Wales used mackerel heads on the bottom, an 8/0 hook and 30lb mainline, with a pulley rig, a 60lb abrasion-resistant leader and a 200lb crimped nylon trace. Treat both as one angler’s choices, not a standard.

Bait follows diet. Tope eat bony fish, squid and other cephalopods, invertebrates and small sharks and rays, so oily fish and squid baits suit them.

Release kit counts as tackle too:

Rubberised-mesh landing net or drop net
Long-nosed pliers or an unhooker
Strong cutters for the trace
A sling

Best for: anglers fishing marks where tope are known to show, with kit strong enough to land them promptly. Skip if: you only have a light bass rod. It will prolong the fight, and the fish pays for it.

How to Release a Tope Safely

A long fight followed by a long photo session is how good intentions harm tope. A rod-caught tope can’t be landed in England or Wales (see the law section above), so the release is the most important part of the catch.

This routine is compiled from SeaAngler and the Shark Trust:

Fish circle hooks so the hook sits in the jaw rather than the gut.
Don’t play the fish to exhaustion. Use tackle strong enough to bring it in promptly.
Keep it in the water where you can. Use a rubberised-mesh net or a drop net rather than dragging it over rocks. A sling with a blackout hood helps calm the fish.
If it’s deeply hooked, cut the trace as close as you safely can rather than digging for the hook.
Support the body, photograph quickly and return it.
Record the catch in the Shark Trust App, which runs an angling catches project.

The Shark Trust supports angling only where high handling standards are followed, and it asks anglers to keep accurate catch records.

If you plan to target tope, pack the net and cutters before the bait.

Frequently asked questions

Can you keep a tope shark in the UK?

Not a rod-caught one in England or Wales, where the 2008 Tope Orders ban landing it. Scotland bans landing tope from any fishing boat. For Northern Ireland, check with DAERA before you target or keep tope.

How big do tope sharks get?

Females grow to 195cm total length and males to 175cm, according to the Shark Trust, so females are the larger sex. Check the second dorsal fin, tail and teeth to separate a tope from a smoothhound of similar size.

What is the British record tope?

The British Record (rod-caught) Fish Committee keeps the official list. Records change, so check the committee's current list rather than figures quoted elsewhere online. If you think you have a record-sized tope, contact the committee about its claim rules, and remember the landing ban still applies in England and Wales.