Shark Selfie: Australian Teenage Surfer Takes Selfie With A Gigantic Shark, Is He Lying?

A “shark selfie” taken by an Australian teenager is becoming big news as the image is being shared across several social media networks. The selfie, taken by teenager Alex Hayes, was posted to his Instagram account on June 11, reports Yahoo 7 News. It has since then gone viral and is becoming a big topic of discussion with several people claiming that the image is simply too good to be true and that it was a simple photoshop job.

In the shark selfie, Alex is seen smiling and taking the selfie even as a gigantic shark is clearly seen lurking in the clear waters below him. According to Alex, the shark selfie was taken near Clontarf Beach in Sydney, reports The Mirror.

Alex’s Instagram caption for the epic shark selfie image reads as follows.

“So… I went for a paddle out front, decided to stop have a rest and then saw this bad boy, at first I freaked and then I saw that he was a chiller and just cruisin. Luckily I brought my #gopro otherwise no one would’ve Believed me.. Changes my perspective about sharks they aren’t all dangerous!”

The image has since then received over 5,000 likes and international media outlets have started picking it up and are reporting about it.

Meanwhile, the shark selfie has received considerable criticism from several commenters with some even claiming that the image has been faked. They pointed out to another image of a shark that has been online for sometime. The sharks seen in both the images seem to look quite similar. Others have pointed out that the image was not taken from a surfboard and that it is actually taken from a boat. Then there are others who pointed out the fact that Alex looked “too dry” for someone who is in the sea on a surfboard.

We have embedded that image below and you be the judge!

Do you think the shark selfie was in fact just a good photoshop job wherein the image above was simply morphed onto Alex’s image?

Shark selfie taker Alex describes himself as a semi professional “grommet” (a budding pro surfer) who is “trying to make his way into the ranks of professional surfing.”

The news about Alex’s famous shark selfie comes just days after the Inquisitr reported about a 10-year-old boy being bitten by a shark when he was wading in the shallow waters of Cocoa Beach in Florida.

Do you think the shark selfie taken by Alex is real? Or are you among the group of skeptics?

[Images via Instagram/ Mirror UK]