An angel shark has travelled for 12 hours to find love at an East Sussex aquarium.

Angelis the shark arrived in Hastings on Wednesday after spending the night on the road in a water tank.

He usually lives at Deep Sea World, in North Queensferry near Edinburgh, but experts hope he will find a love match in Annie, Underwater World's resident angel shark.

But they only have six months to hit it off before Angelis is shipped back to Scotland at the end of the summer breeding season.

The angel shark travelled for 12 hours

The aquarium's chief curator Paul Hale is confident he will soon be hearing the patter of tiny fins.

Mr Hales said: "It's never been done before and we don't know a lot about this species so it is an ideal opportunity to gather more information about them.

"When we have pups we can offer them to other aquariums so more people can see these wonderful animals."

There are only five angel sharks kept in captivity in the UK and it is believed one has never before been bred in captivity.

'Bit stunned'

They live around the British coast but only have small numbers of pups and their numbers have depleted because of fishing.

Angel sharks

They have flat bodies which allow them to hide on the bottom of the sea The name comes from their angelic-looking broad pectoral fins There are 13 species They eat bony fish, skates, crabs and squid Litters range from seven to 25 pups.

Underwater World has plenty of experience breeding sharks and rays in captivity but this will be its most unusual challenge to date.

Angelis is five-feet long and weighs in at 16 kilograms.

He had to be transported in a metal container carrying 1,000 litres of water that was circulated with pumps.

Mr Hale said: "He's a bit stunned but is very laid back."