Is this shark attack real?

February 8, 2009 1:59 PM

Is this picture of a shark attacking a frog man for real?

I've been looking at this picture, and can't figure out what in the world is going on here. It doesn't have any obvious tipoffs as a photoshop job, but it seems too fantastical to be real. Is it from a movie? Does anyone have any notions or information on this?

posted by lhputtgrass to grab bag (10 answers total)

It's false according to Snopes.com
posted by Andy's Gross Wart at 2:01 PM on February 8, 2009

And National Geographic.
posted by sharkfu at 2:03 PM on February 8, 2009

It's a fake.

That picture is take near Fort Funston. There's no way something like that would happen and it wouldn't be all over the news.

Great whites generally attack underwater. The victim is sitting in the water and then all of a sudden they're dragged underwater.

The size of the shark is wrong. Great Whites are big but not that big.

You shouldn't necessarily believe a word I say because I know very little about sharks and less about faking photos.
posted by rdr at 2:07 PM on February 8, 2009

Fake.

But awesome.
posted by you're a kitty! at 2:18 PM on February 8, 2009 [4 favorites]

rdr: I know something about sharks. Great white sharks often attack at the surface. They strike their prey from below. Their coloring (dark on top, white below) camouflages them when viewed from above or below. They tend to go in for a disabling bite initially and then finish the job shortly after.
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 2:37 PM on February 8, 2009

And that picture is definitely fake.
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 2:38 PM on February 8, 2009

and below, below, below, and underneath...
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 2:53 PM on February 8, 2009

It is fake. Check it out on Snopes.com
posted by JayRwv at 3:32 PM on February 8, 2009

It's fake. Here's the proof.

(In fact, the frequency at which people ask whether this particular photo is "real" has become a running in-joke at the UK's "puerile digital arts community", b3ta - to the point at which any image which contains a shark, a helicopter, and a bridge, is declared to be "real", and any image lacking one of these elements is obviously fake.)
posted by Mwongozi at 5:10 PM on February 8, 2009 [1 favorite]

For example.
posted by ninebelow at 4:54 AM on February 9, 2009