Helena Bonham Carter has a phobia of fish but she doesn't want us taking too many of them out of the oceans. So here's a picture of her posing naked with a giant tuna

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For a woman who readily admits to being afraid of fish, a giant tuna seems to be the most unlikely of Valentine's dates.

However, Helena Bonham Carter overcome her phobia to pose naked with this magnificent specimen in support of the Blue Marine Foundation, which is campaigning for marine reserves to protect endangered species around the world.

The 48-year-old actress, who split from director Tim Burton last December, was persuaded to undertake the project by her friend Greta Scacchi.

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Big Fish: Helena Bonham Carter nakedly embraces a Bigeye Tuna in a series of photos in support of the Blue Marine Foundation

Big Fish: Helena Bonham Carter nakedly embraces a Bigeye Tuna in a series of photos in support of the Blue Marine Foundation

'I am a big supporter of protecting the marine environment', she said. 'I'm actually very phobic about fish so when Greta asked me to be photographed naked with a 27kg tuna I was more worried about touching it than getting my kit off.

'Having said that, I conquered my fears and by the end of the morning we'd truly bonded. He will be my Valentine.' 

The fish in question was a Bigeye tuna, which belongs to the wider mackerel family Scombridae.

The actress appears nude while embracing a Bigeye Tuna in a series of photos in a rather unusual show of support for the Blue Marine Foundation 

Campaign: Bonham Carter spoke in front of a House of Commons committee to lobby for more marine reserves - to protect fish as well as whales, turtles seabirds and penguins - in the British Overseas Territories

Campaign: Bonham Carter spoke in front of a House of Commons committee to lobby for more marine reserves - to protect fish as well as whales, turtles seabirds and penguins - in the British Overseas Territories

Sea-ing is believing: Helena was asked to get involved by her friend Greta Scacchi, who was photographed with a cod in the first of a series of images

Model Lizzie Jagger and actress Emilia Fox have also posed nude for Fishlove. 

Currently the UK has the fifth largest marine zone in the world and tuna is one of the many species that is being overfished says the charity.

Bonham Carter's involvement in the campaign began when Greta Scacchi persuaded her to take part.

On Wednesday she spoke in front of a House of Commons committee to lobby for more marine reserves - to protect fish as well as whales, turtles seabirds and penguins - in the British Overseas Territories.

'There is a new movement, spearheaded by the Blue Marine Foundation and others, encouraging the Government to invest in creating marine reserves — fish refuges really — where they are safe from the ravages of industrial-scale fishing and where they can regenerate,' Helena says.

'We all have a responsibility to try and return our world to the next generation in the state we inherited it in, not worse. 

'It would be a sad thing if in our dotage we'd be describing a tuna fish to our grandchildren like we do a dodo today.'

Currently the Government is looking into plans to develop three of the world's largest marine reserves around the British overseas territories of Pitcairn in the Pacific, Ascension in the Atlantic, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic.

Meanwhile, Helena has just completed work on upcoming flick, Disney's Cinderella, which is slated for release in March. 

When she's not campaigning against overfishing and taking care of her brood, she's also filming TV movie, Codes Of Conduct, in which she plays a character called Esther Kaufmann. 

The new movie tells the tale of a young man with a mysterious past, who makes his way into New York's high society. 

But that's not all - Bonham Carter has a role in Suffragette and Alice In Wonderland: Through The Looking Glass. 

In Suffragette, she stars as Edith New, alongside Meryl Streep and Carey Mulligan as the story of the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement is explored. 

And of course, she will star as the Red Queen in Alice. 

She'll join an A-list cast, which includes Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska and Anne Hathaway in the film, which is slated for release on May 27, 2016.  

 

  

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