WATCH: Shark chases prey up to water's edge
A photographer out for a spot of fishing has captured the incredible moment a grey nurse shark almost beached itself in a desperate bid to chase down its prey.
After making his way down to Forster Main Beach, on the NSW Mid North Coast, last Friday Dan Kirkman came across the shark on a mission to chase down a doomed remora fish desperately trying to escape.
But the local resident was suddenly kicking himself that he was equipped with his fishing gear, not his camera gear.
Making due with his trusty iPhone, Dan made his way into ankle deep waters to watch nature take its place.
“I had a bit of an inkling the sharks may have been there… there’s a lot of activity around this time of year,” he told Yahoo7 News.
“I was literally in ankle deep water, it was two feet away from my feet… it was really cool to witness.
“I never felt threatened, they get a bit of a bad rap but if people understood how often they (grey nurse sharks) are out there [they’d be more comfortable].
“They are not at all interested in what we’re doing, they are doing their own thing.”
Mr Kirkman said the irony was that amongst all the mullet activity in the water, the hungry shark made it its mission to feast on a remora – a fish that attaches itself to host species like sharks, whales and manta rays and cleans them of bacteria.
“I don’t think he made it unfortunately [the remora], you can see it swimming away and chewing down on the fish,” he added.
