Residents in Highland town are shocked by a warning that a great white shark is lurking off the coast... only to discover they were mixed up with a town in New Zealand

It is an area more famous for dolphin spotting.

But residents in a Highland town on the Moray Firth were shocked when they received a warning that a great white shark was lurking off the coast.

The alarm was raised about the presence of the giant predator to locals who had set up Google alerts for any breaking news about Fortrose, Ross-shire.

The message they received said a tag attached by scientists to a great white had been tracked to their beach. However, they were sent the warning in error after a shark tour company in New Zealand issued the alert for its town, also called Fortrose.

It turned out the tag ended up being washed up in Fortrose on New Zealand’s South Island with the tracking device later discovered by a Labrador named Quasi.

The Southland Times reports that a local shark cage diving operator was notified by scientists in Australia that a tag attached to a great white they were monitoring had been traced to the beach near Fortrose. Shark Experience then encouraged residents to join the search for the tag.

On Tuesday, the tour operator said: ‘A big thank you to everyone who helped with the hunt for the shark tag at Fortrose.

‘Quasi the lab and his owner Kelsi found the tag. It is on its way to the science guys now. Massive thank you to Kelsi and Quasi who located the precious wee package.’

Fortrose in Ross-shire is famous for its dolphin watching, with nearby Chanonry Point offering the best views of the marine mammals leaping around as they swim up the Moray Firth to feed.

But while dolphins and various sharks are often seen around our coastline there have never been any confirmed sightings of great whites in Scottish waters.

Many scientists, though, say that with climate change contributing to rising ocean temperatures we will see the species start to migrate here.

There have been sporadic reports over the past 20 years of the apex predator that are viewed as credible sightings.

In July 2003, four divers said a great white swam around their boat off Ullapool. Among the crew was a doctor who provided a detailed description of the 16ft shark.

A couple of weeks later, two fishermen claim they saw a great white entangled in their net off the coast of Caithness.

Another report came in July 2005 from four anglers close to North Uist in the Outer Hebrides, while another sighting was off nearby Lewis in 2016.