A very rare sight of what could be a great white shark breaching in the Bay of Islands was caught on camera, and it was a complete fluke.
Christine Schofield, 72, was with her husband Arthur, daughter Marion Jackson and her partner Roger Kight in Paradise Bay near Paihia last week when they saw the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship leaving the small town.
Ms Jackson says her mum wanted to take a photo of the ship because she had been on it the previous year when there was a splash nearby.
But her mum didn't even realise the rare moment she'd captured.
The full version of the photo taken by Christine Schofield
"Didn't see the shark at all, she took the photo, didn't have her glasses on and couldn't see what she was taking," Ms Jackson says.
"She's saying 'I think I got it' and we said 'yeah, right'."
The family normally spends time on their boat in the Hauraki Gulf or the Coromandel, but decided to sail from Auckland to the Bay of Islands for a break.
Ms Jackson says the shark is around 800m from Urupukapuka Island and the cruise ship is around 9km away in the photo.
They sent the photo to shark scientist Riley Elliott who says the shark is likely to be a great white or could possibly be a pregnant bronze whaler based on the "bulbous" shape.
He told Newshub the image quality isn't good enough to definitively say what kind of shark it was, but he could rule it out being a mako or a dolphin because of the body shape.
It could possibly be a bronze whaler which is known to breach the water to remove parasites.
However, Mr Elliott says what makes him lean toward it being a great white is the size which the family described as between 4-5 metres long.
The water disturbance around the shark is also more characteristic of the animal moving through the water as if hunting compared to when it is removing parasites which would be a cleaner exit out of the sea, Mr Elliott says.
He has studied great white sharks in South Africa where breaching behaviour is "commonplace", but it has not been documented in New Zealand.
"But we do know most sharks and other species breach to remove parasites.
"It could be scratching itself, or it could be a great white predating on anything from a jelly fish, to birds. It's unlikely it would be a seal and brings any risk to anyone."
Great white sharks are known to give birth in New Zealand waters, having travelled from the tropics and sometimes bring parasites which they try and rid themselves of.
"What's awesome about it is that they go undetected, that shows how much they keep to themselves."
He says the shark won't be anything to fear.
Newshub.
