After a picture of what appeared to be a shark photobombing one mother's shot of her kids in the water went viral, experts say it wasn't a shark at all. INSIDE EDITION explains.
INSIDE EDITION is learning more about the shark photobomb that has the whole country talking.
A jaw-dropping photo went viral after a mom caught what appeared to be a shark swimming near her 12-year-old son. The young boy and his friend looked completely oblivious to the creature lurking just a few feet away in the water off Manhattan Beach in Southern California.
It turns out, that scary looking beast wasn't a shark at all. Experts now say it was a dolphin.
Marine biologist Jose Bacallao told INSIDE EDITION, "It looks like a bottle-nosed dolphin."
He said that the animal's tail fin gives it away. A shark's tale is vertical, but a dolphin's tale is horizontal, just like the one in the photo.
Bacallao said, "The real big give-away for me was the fin. The tail fin, which on a dolphin we call a fluke and on a fish like a shark, we call a coddle fin."
Marine biologists say that dolphins like playing in the surf, just like people. But he says if you see a shadowy figure lurking nearby, don't try to be an expert, just get out of the water.
