Roland Lines went out to sea to look for some of the biggest animals in the ocean but ended up finding some of the smallest.

Mr Lines was out whale watching on Challenger Bank with his friends Camilla Stringer and Rachel van de Weg on Saturday but despite the flat calm conditions that make it easier to spot the leviathans, they did not make an appearance in the area.

However, Mr Lines did get a natural encounter on a much smaller scale. He spotted some plastic trash floating in the sea and, as per his usual routine, he headed over to collect it so it could be properly disposed of back on land.

The good deed paid off because as he approached the debris, his crewmate Ms Stringer spotted a couple of juvenile flying fish in the floating sargassum weed.

Mr Lines told The Royal Gazette: “We were out whale watching but I got my bucket and some nets because it is fun looking for little ocean critters, since the last time we went whale watching we never got a good fluke ID.

“It was a calm day and we wanted to see what else we could find out there.

“Then we found these flying fish under a raft of sargassum seaweed — I had never seen a sargassum fish before. We grabbed my net, I backed up and Camilla netted it and put it in the bucket. We took some photos and carefully put it back in the sea.

“It was a very nice surprise. We got them there swimming in the open ocean.

“We also saw a jellyfish-like critter — it was about 3mm across — that we have not identified yet.”