This stunning picture shows a rare bluefin tuna breaching the water.

Kayaker Rupert Kirkwood, 61, paddled three miles off the coast of Cornwall to discover himself in the middle of a school of the fish.

He found the huge shoal after a three-hour adventure into to open seas near Portmellon in search of interesting sea creatures on Saturday (20/11).

Rupert said: "I had been paddling for about three hours when I saw a mass of swirling birds on the horizon.

"I steamed towards them as fast as my little arms would take me in my kayak and came upon a feeding frenzy of giant bluefin tuna.

"There were about 20 of them swirling at the surface, sometimes jumping out. I sat and watched them and tried to get a photograph for about three hours and not five seconds went past without hearing the splash of a tuna."

Rupert, from Polesworthy, near Bude, also spotted 30 dolphins mixing with the tuna and around six porpoises.