Shark Photobombs 10-Year-Old Surfer In Australia

A freakish photo of an Australian boy surfing the waves as a shark lurks beneath the water has gone viral.

Fox News reported that Eden Hasson, 10, was surfing at Samurai Beach in Port Stephens, Australia, when his father Chris Hasson took a picture of him. While reviewing the photos, Chris was surprised to see what looked like a great white shark lurking in front of his son and beneath the waves.

"I quickly called him in and whistled," Mr. Hasson told Associated Press. He added that his son "saw a shape in the wave and thought it was seaweed and felt something as he went over the top - he got his leg rope caught on something - but he thought nothing of it until he saw the photo."

Eden told Australian TV that he was thankful he was oblivious. Otherwise, he would have panicked and got into a lot of trouble.

"If I was on the wave and saw it, I probably would've freaked out and fell off," he said recalling the time he brushed with the predator. "I was lucky I didn't fall off."

His father said he was just prompted by a "gut feeling" to review the photos. "I just had a gut feeling so I went into the photos and zoomed in and went 'No way'," he said, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The shark was probably a small great white, James Cook University shark researcher Dr. Andrew Chin noted. "From the angle, it looks like the shark was spooked and is rolling away from the board to escape it," Dr. Chin added. "There is no way that this is a hunting approach."

Eden was indeed lucky to be spared from danger as there have been 18 shark attacks recorded in Australia in 2015. 13 of those were in New South Wales where a 41-year-old Japanese surfer lost his life.