CNN
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An experienced photographer captures an unexpected last minute entry to a surfing contest. A great white shark was terrifyingly close to a surfer.
California-based photographer Jordan Anast was snapping photos for the San Onofre Surf Club contest when he captured a stunning image of a shark just yards away from surfer Tyler Warren in the foreground. Did.
Anast took the stunning photo around 11 a.m. on Oct. 22, he told CNN. At first he didn’t understand exactly what he had caught. He had shot a dolphin before “surfing in the water”, and from a distance the animal looked like another dolphin.
“I didn’t know until I looked carefully and saw the structure of the fin,” he explained. Then he “realized it was a great white shark.”
But he wasn’t surprised by the find, he said. “They’re everywhere in California all the time,” he said.
He said he captured a total of six images of the great white shark breaking through. He attributes the once-in-a-lifetime shot to a combination of luck and his 400mm telephoto lens, which he normally uses to photograph sporting events from afar.
He said the photo’s online popularity was “crazy.” “Today was the craziest day ever. [The photo] It now has its own legs.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, great white sharks live all along the U.S. coast, but the exact population numbers in U.S. waters are unknown. A shark is the same length as an adult, 21 feet, and he weighs over 4,000 pounds.
Sharks are listed as “endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and are protected internationally under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora.
