A FISHERMAN says he has spotted killer whales off Hove beach.

John Carnivore was fishing for mackerel opposite Marrocco’s cafe in King’s Esplanade when he saw movement in the water.

“I am 100 per cent sure they were killer whales,” he said. There were loads of them and they were huge.

“I was fishing for mackerel and saw all this splashing in the water ahead.

“They were definitely bigger and I saw white markings on one of them, just like the markings on an orca.”

John said after watching a few whale behaviour videos he knew they were killer whales by the way they were swimming through the water.

He said: “You can also tell by the shape of their fins, they are different to dolphin fins and they were swimming in a different way to how I normally see dolphins.”

John saw the pod at about 6am on Monday morning.

He said a group of Spanish students were on the beach at the time, screaming at the sight of them and taking pictures.

“There were a few people watching them swim by and everyone was making so much noise because it was so surprising.

“I think the last time killer whales were spotted off this coast was back in 2015 so it’s really big news.”

A spokesman from Whale and Dolphin Conservation said the footage John sent to The Argus of the marine creatures was low quality, making it hard to distinguish the species.

He said: “These may be short-beaked common dolphins, which have been sighted a lot recently, all around the British coast. They grow up to 2.5 to 2.7 metres in length and are a very sociable and acrobatic species that like to put on a show.”

Killer whales are often in the polar regions but have been sighted off the British coastline before. They can live up to 80 years in the wild and weigh about six tonnes.