The Dorsal Fin

The video above recently founds its way on YouTube via SOSShark. The description claims that an underwater video camera housing was found at the bottom of the sea by divers near Malta. The footage shown in the video was supposedly recovered from the camera. Oddly enough, the recovered footage has been edited with multiple quick cuts that make a Michael Bay action sequence seem smooth.

A frame-by-frame analysis reveals some shots of a shark seemingly biting a wetsuit-clad diver with plenty of “blood” in the water. Oddly enough, in some of the frames of the “attack” in which the diver can be seen, the blood is originating from off-camera. One must also give credit to the cameraman for being a true professional and continuing to film the attack, rather than to help the diver out.

The concerned individual(s) who posted the video concluded it with a message seeking information about the diver and the cameraman. While the thought of acquiring a free underwater video rig by claiming to be the cameraman might seem tempting, I’m guessing that the creators of this video might be wise to such attempts, so I’m going to go ahead and advise against it.

While I’m not sure what the motivation is behind these types of videos, they seem to pop up from time to time. I guess the hope is that the video will go viral and generate some ad. revenue. I’ve yet to see that really happen with one of these types of videos, but I have a feeling that if it does, it’s going take a better attempt than the video shown above.

This is another one that shouldn’t really need explaining. The photo seen in the video above was purportedly captured by Terry Lynch, while he was observing the live ROV feed of the BP oil spill, according to http://www.bpoilspill.byteland.org/, a site which is registered in Lynch’s name. The site suggests that the oil and disperant chemicals might have caused the shark to go “berserk or crazy.” Lynch’s site then goes on to suggest the possibility that “maybe a crazed shark, sickened by pollutants, chewing upon cables or equipment is what caused the explosion of Deepwater Horizon.”

The image appears to be the result of photo-manipulation. The sharpness of the white shark that has been added to the image is noticeably higher than that of the BP feed image, likely due to the source image of the white shark having a higher resolution than the source image of the BP live feed image. Additionally, refracted rays of sunlight are clearly visible on the shark indicating that the photo was taken near the surface.

The primary motivation behind this hoax image (and YouTube video) seems to be an attempt to draw visitors to Lynch’s BP Oil Spill Animal Rescue site, which offers merchandise featuring numerous anti-BP designs, including the photo-manipulated shark image. According to the site, when items are purchased, a donation is made to the Good Shepherd Dog Animal Rescue (GSDAR), which was founded by Terry Lynch “for the benefit and rescue of homeless animals.” The GSDAR website indicates that the organization is not a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization but describes GSDAR as a “private, grassroots, on-line nonprofit corporation.”

It should be noted that there is no mention of any proceeds from the sale of merchandise on Lynch’s BP Oil Spill Animal Rescue site being earmarked for donations directly to the BP spill clean-up efforts.

There are actually some fairly impressive kite boarding videos on YouTube. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. According to the title and the video information, the video above purports to show a great white shark attack a kite surfer, when in reality it’s just a garbled mix of surface and underwater shots with a couple of snippets of white shark footage spliced in. Throw in some really bad acting and “blood” in the water, and you’ve got your supposed shark attack video. To the video creator’s credit, the transitions into and out of the white shark footage are fairly smooth.

After watching the video purportedly of a surfer being towed by a great white shark, you might be thinking, “Is it even worth asking whether this is real or not?” However, a quick glance through some of the comments from YouTubers would tend to indicate there is much debate over the authenticity of this footage…

To get to the point, it’s not any more “real” than the last movie you saw at the theater. However, it’s not really a “hoax,” either, or at least, it wasn’t really intended to be. The hoax aspect has come into play more as a result of the responses of YouTube viewers, than as a result of the actual video content.
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