This is the dramatic moment a surfer looks down and discovers a shark lurking just beneath his board.
Mitch Hargreaves, a Home and Away extra, was riding a wave when he spotted the six-foot predator in the shallows.
First-person footage perfectly captures the moment he sees the beast beneath him, cruises past and calls out to his fellow surfers.
The 19-year-old, who was surfing off Cellito Beach in New South Wales, Australia, said the close call left him ‘shocked and vulnerable’.
Mitch Hargreaves, a Home and Away extra, was riding a wave off Cellito Beach in New South Wales, Australia, when he spotted a huge man-eating shark lurking in the water below
The killer shark’s shadow suddenly emerges in the water just feet from the surfer. Somehow, Mr Hargreaves manages to keep his cool and keeps surfing over the top of it
He said: ‘I knew it was a shark straight away and my first thought was to surf over the top of it, so I could paddle in the opposite direction.
‘I felt vulnerable and shocked as I was paddling away from it, because that was the first shark I had ever seen while surfing.’
Locals believe the predator was a bull shark – a species that typically breeds at river mouths like the one near the beach.
Bull sharks are famously territorial and easily provoked, and blamed for most near-shore attacks on humans.
After the sighting, Mr Hragreaves made his way to shore and attempted to call the other surfers, including his father, to safety.
‘I was waving from the shore, and when they eventually came in they didn’t believe me – until they saw the video,’ he said.
Locals believe the beast was a bull shark, which are blamed for most near-shore attacks on humans
Mr Hargreaves made his way to shore and attempted to call the other surfers, including his father, to safety
Surfers have been known to fall victim to sharks because their outline while paddling can resemble that of a sea turle or a sea lion.
However sharks rarely persist with attacking a human once they’ve sunk their jaws in and realised that we’re not something they normally eat.
Despite their fierce reputation, shark attacks are rare – there are just 65 a year on average and only a handful of those are fatal.