No, that image is not photoshopped, it really is a shark diving nose-first into the sea.
While sailing a few miles out from Perth on the West Australian coast last Thursday, 19-year-old Jake Beazley’s fishing trip was given a brief but brilliant half-time show.
“It was around lunchtime when I had myself a good fish on the end of the line,” Beazley told Mashable. “My friend and my lines started getting twisted and after we untangled them, a shark swum up and took my fish.”
After lurking around the boat, biting their propellor and pinching their fishing bait, the shark then somersaulted out of the water three times, complete with a well-executed Sharknado-esque twist and accompanied by some NSFW Aussie expletives.
“When it started jumping out of the water it was amazing. It jumped out three times but we soon realized we had to take precautions because they can jump right up onto boats. So we drove off pretty soon,” Beazley told WAtoday.
They believe the run-in was with a Mako shark, the fastest shark of the sea. There are unverified claims that these sharks can attain bursts of speed of over 74 kilometers per hour (46 miles per hour) thanks to their muscle structure, which is subtly unique to this species. As such, catching these nippy sharks jumping out the water isn’t unusual. Scientists aren’t exactly sure why they do this, although they suspect it has something to do with searching for prey above sea level. Or maybe, just to terrify Australian teenagers.