An image of a half-eaten mako shark caught off the Far South Coast has captured the imagination of news outlets across the world.
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Outlets from the United States, France, Russia, Vietnam, United Kingdom, Malaysia and Ghana have run with the story after it was broken by the Bega District News on Friday.
The image shows commercial fisherman Jason "Trapman" Moyce's 18-year-old employee of just three weeks Jasper Lay holding the head of the shark, estimated to have been up to 300kg before being eaten, aboard a boat around eight kilometres from Bermagui.
Social media lit up quickly with speculation over what may have devoured the apex predator as it was being reeled aboard Mr Moyce's boat.
"Didn't get to see the culprit, pretty glad about it too," Mr Moyce said.
"We don't target large sharks, but when a small shark gets eaten by a bigger shark, and a bigger shark eats the bigger shark.. [we] can't do much about it."
From Russia's Sputnik to America's CNN, the story gathered momentum over the weekend, with one expert telling CNN it was unlikely to be an orca as they are only interested in a diet of shark liver.
Most experts suggested a great white shark was responsible, while Mr Moyce said it could just of likely been a tiger shark, which he has seen as large as 5 metres in the area.
Another expert said the animals was vulnerable to attack as it had been caught on the pair's line.
Mr Moyce said he was surprised by the attention the common occurrence has garnered, and had to switch his phone off after posting the images online on Thursday due to all the attention.
"People from all over the world are wanting interviews but I've just been doing some gardening today to take a break. My phone's been on shutdown," Mr Moyce said on Friday.
The mako shark is an efficient predator in its own right, is known for its fast speeds and ability to jump into the fishing boats, and is often labeled the tastiest of all shark species by restaurants.
Mr Moyce said Mr Lay was shocked by the size of the animal, which he said was "only half grown".
"Well my day was pretty intense, gotta love knowing there are sharks big enough to do this," Mr Lay said above a post of a devoured tiger shark the pair also caught last week.
Following the interest in the photograph, Mr Moyce posted a video online of the catch, which had a 30cm marlin bill lodged in its throat.
"When we were cutting what was left of the meat off the mako, we discovered a big scar on the side of its head," Mr Moyce said.
"Everything it has eaten since, would have rubbed past the point of the bill in its throat."
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