[imagesource:sharkcagedivingmosselbay]

Coming within inches of him, videographer and shark cage diver Mark Graham captured the terrifying moment a great white shark launched at his tour boat.

In scenes reminiscent of Jaws, the incredible video shows a three-metre great white jumping out of the ocean to catch a huge chunk of bait before clamping its razor-sharp teeth around it and frantically shaking it until it came loose.

The Daily Mail reported that it was one of four great white sharks lunging at the boat next to Klein Brak Beach, near Mossel Bay, in South Africa.

Mark Graham, 31, from Preston, England, was guiding a tour to dive with great white sharks 30 minutes from the Mossel Bay harbour, which lasted around four hours.

He was able to capture the intense images and videos of the sharks opening their jaws and coming as close as six feet away.

Mark said he was thrilled with the content he managed to capture as the sharks he usually encounters are not as animated as this one, even though he often takes tour groups out for a close encounter experience:

He said: ‘No no-one felt scared, even the guests that initially didn’t want to get in the water changed their mind and got into the cage to experience the sharks underwater.

‘Great white sharks more often than not are extremely slow and curious staying just below the surface investigating the boat and the cage.

‘So when we do have active days where the great whites show how effective they are as predators breaching out of the water and lunging for the bait it is amazing to see.’

Have a look at what they witnessed:

Mark is also keen to dispel the bad reputation that sharks have racked up over the years, saying that their reputation is not at all justified as there were “only five fatal shark attacks in 2022 whilst humans kill over 11 000 sharks an hour”.

‘Sharks are just sharks. They’re animals, they’re not monsters. Learn to appreciate them for what they are, not what you think they are and what they are important for, not how you feel about them.’

He encourages everyone to go and see them in their natural habitat (behind bars, for your safety) so that you can learn more about them and change your perception.

I mean the poor things are being chased out of the Cape Town waters because killer whales are eating their livers, so they’re clearly not that scary.

[source:dailymail]