Image by Luke Thom for Discovery Shark Week
Riggs and his film crew were in a boat near the Neptune Islands, near Port Lincoln in South Australia.
One crew member was halfway through taking a photo at water level when an enormous great white shark breached the surface of the water.
‘She was around 15 foot long, and wasn’t being aggressive, believe it or not, but certainly looks like it in that image. But that’s how they assess their surroundings,’ Riggs told the Australian Broadcasting Company.
This isn’t the first startling image of a shark to go viral – last year art teacher Amanda Brewer took the internet by storm with an incredible shot of a feeding great white off the coast of South Africa.
This recent shot was snapped by Luke Thom. See some more footage of the sharks for Discovery Shark Week below:
Though the image looks quite frightening, Riggs was keen to stress that the shark had no interest in harming anyone, and was merely expressing its curiosity.
‘They’re basically very curious — any vessels that pull up in the location, the sharks will come and have a look,’ he said.
‘It’s not being aggressive, it was not attempting to kill anyone, it was just very curious.’
