The Dorsal Fin

Thanks to some “Shop-Fu” and Redditor throwawaystress, a digitally manipulated photo of a white shark swimming down a flooded street in Puerto Rico has been making the rounds on the web and even duped Miami’s 7 News, which reported on the photo not realizing it was a joke (video uploaded by YouTube user jernestine)

The story about the hoax photo even founds its way to a blog article at The Washington Post, which revealed the original source of the shark image used in the composite work.

If the shark in the photo looks familiar, it’s because it was lifted from a rather famous photo taken by Thomas P. Peschak that shows a white shark following a kayaker off the coast of South Africa. The photo has been published by multiple media outlets including Africa Geographic and BBC Wildlife to name a few. You can check out the story behind the original photograph on Peschak’s website.

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.