Peetster

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

Minx

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!!

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You've been a naughty boy....go to my room!

Phaenx

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.

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"I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

Phaenx

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.

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"I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

platypus

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

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Out the 10Base-T, through the router, down the T1, over the leased line, off the bridge, past the firewall...nothing but Net.

zfleebin

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.

Peetster

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

*Nikki*

It is odvious to me it is a dolphin.

uncle phil

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

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"We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done."
- Robert S. McNamara
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"We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches...
We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles."
- Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message"
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never wrestle with a pig.
you both get dirty;
the pig likes it.

Donkeypuncher

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.

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"take me down, little *Susie*, take me down
I know you think you're the Queen of The Underground"

cchris

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".

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There's a fine line between participation and mockery

RAMONES!!!

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

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Come on

Meridae'n

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

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What's easier to believe: that a guy was born without sex in the manner of several Greek demigods and grew up to be able to transmute liquids and alter his body density yet couldn't escape government execution, or that three freemasons in a vehicle made with aluminum foil in an era before digital technology escaped our atmosphere, landing on the moon, broadcasted from there, and then flew back without burning up?

bundy

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.

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Ohayo!!!

billyeggs

crazy!

CanuckAlert

It is a really big dolphin though...

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siitin' on the sofa

World's King

Wow.

Who wants some tuna?

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heavy is the head that wears the crown

YourNeverThere

man i love Snopes, what a good site

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The Above post is a direct quote from Shakespeare

krwlz

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

ReggErving

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

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...sitting on your bed with a samauri pose.

jeenyus

who knows maybe it is a shark..