A TUNA was followed up the M5 past Worcester by scientists after a tourist accidentally took it home.

Researchers at the University of Exeter had tagged the Atlantic bluefin tuna off Plymouth in Devon a few weeks ago as part of a research project.

However, researchers were confused to find that the giant fish was travelling on the M5 on its way to Birmingham.

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Worcester News: The radio tag used to track tuna which got tracked up the M5 motorway. The radio tag used to track tuna which got tracked up the M5 motorway. (Image: SWNS)It had turned out that Brian Shuttleworth, who was on holiday in Cornwall at the time, had discovered the tag washed up on the beach amongst seaweed and decided to take it home to Lancashire.

The tag had managed to safely detach itself from the fish, which led to it being washed up in Whitsand Bay.

He said: "We were holidaying in Cornwall, and we'd gone down onto the beach and were just walking along the beach.

Worcester News: An Exeter University student searching for a lost tuna radio tag on Whitsand Bay.An Exeter University student searching for a lost tuna radio tag on Whitsand Bay. (Image: SWNS)

"The tide had started to come in, and I saw it in amongst a load of seaweed.

"I recognised what it looked like, detangled it and put it in my pocket with every intention to ring the phone number in tiny writing on it."

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However, due to other life commitments, Mr Shuttleworth had forgotten to do it. 

Only after the PhD students checked their GPS location beacon did they realise the tag was on the move up north.

Dr Lucy Hawkes, one of the leaders of the tuna-tagging project, said: "These tags collect very detailed information, but they only transmit their location – to get the rest of the data, we have to recover the tags.

Worcester News: Bluefun tuna in British waters. Bluefun tuna in British waters. (Image: SWNS)

"They are designed to fall off the tuna after about six days, and obviously, we can't control where the tuna go, so the tags can be hard to recover.

"We have deployed 20 to 30 tags over five years and recovered eight so far. The tags are incredibly useful for our work, so I wasn't ready to give up on this one.

"We assumed someone had picked the tag off the beach and driven home from their holiday."

The university team quickly launched an appeal to recover the tag and went to local radio stations, hoping a listener could have picked it up. 

Mr Shuttleworth heard the end of the broadcast and called into BBC Radio Lancashire to reveal he was the one to pick it up. 

The device has since been returned to Plymouth via mail - with researchers tracking its journey home the whole way.