What began as a cheerful family outing to Melbourne’s Carrum Beach quickly turned unsettling after a strange detail appeared in the background of a photo.
The snapshot showed a father and daughter smiling and waving at the camera, blissfully unaware of something ominous rising from the water behind them.
A Viral Mystery Reemerges
It wasn’t until they returned home that the family noticed a dark, fin-like shape just a few feet away in the shallow surf. The image soon exploded online in 2023, sparking intense debate: was it a shark — or simply an illusion created by the waves?
Now, several years later, the viral photo has resurfaced on social media, igniting old arguments once again.
Authorities Issue a Warning
Interestingly, the renewed interest isn’t entirely coincidental. At the time the photo was taken, SES Chelsea had issued a shark alert for the same stretch of coastline between Bonbeach and Chelsea.
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| Facebook/Chelsea SES |
In a now-famous Facebook post, the organization shared:
“We posted about a shark sighting just off the beach. Later, we received a message from a family who had been at Carrum Beach earlier in the day.”
The post continued:
“It was their baby’s first trip to the beach, and they took a few photos to remember the moment. When they looked closely at the pictures later, they saw something in the water behind them. Could this have been the shark we warned about?”
Mixed Reactions Online
The photo quickly drew thousands of comments, with viewers divided over what the mysterious shape could be.
One commenter wrote, “It doesn’t look very big based on the dog and the depth of the water.”
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Another added, “That fin looks too big for how shallow it is. Wouldn’t someone in the photo have noticed if it was a real shark?”
Others weren’t so easily convinced. “It can’t be completely ruled out,” one person noted. “But a shark that close to shore seems unlikely without anyone spotting it.”
A Scientific Perspective
While the image left many puzzled, the Victoria Fisheries Authority and Life Saving Victoria couldn’t confirm the sighting as a shark. However, Professor Charlie Huveneers, a shark expert and Research Leader of the Southern Shark Ecology Group, offered a plausible alternative.
“The quality of the photo makes it hard to be certain,” he told Yahoo News Australia. “But based on the shape, it looks more like the wing of a Southern Eagle Ray than a shark fin. These rays are often found close to the shore.”
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| Shutterstock |
The Southern Eagle Ray, a near-threatened species, is native to southern Australian waters and sometimes spotted as far as New Zealand.
Continued Caution
This eerie close call came just days after fishermen off Aldinga Beach, near Adelaide, filmed a 13-foot great white shark circling their boat — reminding Australians that the ocean’s top predators are never far away.
As debate over the viral photo continues to stir both curiosity and unease, authorities are once again reminding beachgoers to stay alert — because sometimes, the unexpected really is lurking just below the surface.
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