Alex Hayes’ Clontarf shark selfie got plenty of attention on Instagram but it was a fake

A PICTURE of a great white shark circling a surfer’s board on a Sydney beach last week went viral, but he admits he faked the scene.

A SURFER who snapped an unbelievable photo of a shark swimming beneath his surfboard last week was lauded for his courage in the face of one of nature’s most fearsome predators.

A number of Australian media outlets ran the story. One called Alex Hayes bold. Another said his description of the shark — believed to be a great white or a bull shark — as a “chiller” that was “cruisin” was “a contender for the most Aussie thing anyone has ever said, ever”.

The Independent, one of the UK’s biggest publications, took the story at face value.

Alex Hayes might not have spotted a shark but he is good with Photoshop.

Hayes posted the photo to Instagram during a paddle at the notoriously-flat Clontarf Beach on Sydney’s northern beaches.

“I went for a paddle out front, decided to stop have a rest and then saw this bad boy, at first I freaked and then I saw that he was a chiller and just cruisin, luckily I brought my #gopro otherwise no one would’ve Believed me. (sic),” he wrote.

The Instagram post that went viral. Picture: @AlexHayess.

“Changes my perspective about sharks they aren’t all dangerous,” he said.

For good measure he added the hashtags #hadtogetaphoto and #nearlylostaleg.

But an identical image of a great white shark brought the young man undone.

In the picture (below), the same shark can be swimming in clearer waters, closer to the surface.

The ‘other’ shark image is a bit too similar to be a coincidence.

Hayes told news.com.au the image had been doctored and that he and his mates were just having a laugh.

“It is not real,” he said.

“I thought it was obvious from the start and it was just a funny photo but circulated more than I thought so without acting anything or lying, me and my mate just rolled with it.”

What’s worse is that we should’ve seen this coming. It’s not the first time a shark sighting has gone viral without reporters doing their due diligence.

A video from Manly, just around the corner from Clontarf Beach, racked up more than two million hits in 48 hours a year ago, but it too was a fake.

Terry Tufferson’s GoPro video was billed as a “bit of a close call with a great white shark in Sydney Harbour”. In the video, Tufferson films himself jumping from a popular spot known as “jump rock” at Collins Beach.

As he surfaces his friends scream shark before he comes face-to-face with a huge white pointer.

Even if it’s fake, it doesn’t seem to matter. Tufferson’s video has been viewed more than 30 million times. It proves we’re suckers for a Jaws narrative.