Surfer / Shark photo: Hoax
 

Claim: Photograph shows a surfer's close encounter with a lurking shark.

Status: False.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2003]

Origins: The photograph displayed above is indeed real, but it doesn't depict the hair-raising scene most viewers think it does.

This picture was taken by photographer Kurt Jones on 9 April 2003 at Surfrider Beach in Malibu, one of California's premier surfing beaches. But as the version of the photograph posted on the web indicates, however, the ominous-looking finned creature lurking just beneath the surface of the waves is a dolphin (possibly a bottlenose), not a shark.

original source (with cool pic): http://snopes.com/photos/surfer.asp

Thanks Peetster for posting this....just the other day my boss and I had an argument over it. I tried to tell him it was a dolphin and he was stuck on the shark idea.
Ha! I love being right! I'm printing it off to go bug him!
I owe you one!! :)

A friend of mine actually knows that photographer offline, so when it came up all of us beady eyed little nerds in our group knew what it was.

He should also be able to tell it wasn't a fish by it's fin as well! You can tell by the angle I believe, a shark would have more of a vertical fin.

Still, at first glance, it is a very ominous photo. But, yeah, the fin's wrong for a shark.

Ha Ha thats some funny shit. People probably saw this pic started up some hardcore story and then started the emails up. Its amazing what people try and pull off on the internet.

Thanks Minx! I'm thinking of posting it daily, a hoax of the day. Should I move it to knowledge or somewhere else?

It is odvious to me it is a dolphin.

pete, gen disc sounds like a good place...

Additionally - anyone who has spent any time in those waters has run into many dolphins over the years; sharks are pretty rare around here. Although, I believe I heard something about one being caught off the pier in Huntington Beach or so recently. Eek!

I ran into a big school of dolphins while ocean kayaking in Malibu last summer. They're always cool and they were -extra playful that day. Unfortunately, I only have pics my gf took from the shore, as I hadn't taken the camera out on the boat with me. Oh well.


Peetster-
hoax of the day would rule. Too many gullible folks out there and you might be doing a huge community service. ;)

I'ts great fun to swim with dolphins but to see a shark when your spearfishhing gives a whole new meaning to "The other white meat".

i never thought it was a shark, the fin and the mouth gave it away

Anything about sharks freaks me out, always pops back into my head whenever i'm out in the surf, especially around Melbourne...

surfing and swimming with dolphins is an incredible experience.

last summer i was out in the surf with friends one morning out near Forster (note that i said i was in the surf, and not surfing - because i suck at surfing)... and the dolphins were surfing the waves around us for fun.. it was incredible.

this picky is quite ominous at first glance, but its obvious that its a dolphin... and i´m fairly certain the surfer would know it was a dolphin as well, since he would have seen it and its pod in the surf.

crazy!

It is a really big dolphin though...

Wow.

Who wants some tuna?

man i love Snopes, what a good site

Cool pic, but You have to admit, you would be nervous if you happened to look over and saw that shadow~!!!

That would freak me out if I was in the surfers postiotn.

fadsf
 

who knows maybe it is a shark..