Gargantuan 17ft shark stalks ship as viewers joke prehistoric ‘megalodon’ is back on the hunt
THIS is the moment a giant shark circled around a cruise ship full of terrified tourists in the Atlantic.
The creature was captured on video recorded by musician Alex Albrecht and uploaded on his TikTok channel with viewers comparing it to the ferocious pre-historic megalodon.
The footage been watched more than 30 million times since he uploaded it on Tuesday.
In it the hark swims slowly in a circle near the surface of the water as screaming tourists rush to the side of the boat and clamour to get a closer look.
The crowd gasp and film on their phones, with some shouting”oh my god” and “woah”.
Meanwhile, the man filming the dramatic scene from up in the mast simply says: “Holy f***”.
He captioned the clip: “Sailed six weeks in the Atlantic saw this big f****** shark.”
It has been “liked” more than 4.5 million times and viewers were wither awestruck or absolutely terrified, with some reckoning the shark was the extinct “Megalodon” which grew up to 18 metres in length.
One person, who appeared to be a bit frightened, admitted: “Them standing that close gives me anxiety.”
“Nah I am scared to jump in god that is so scary,” said a second viewer.
Someone else commented: “Isn’t that megalodon?”
“Here come the megalodon comments,” wrote a fourth viewer who sounded unimpressed.
Meanwhile, many shark fans identified the creature as a basking shark, a giant species with dappled skin that reaches up to 12 metres in length and can weigh 6 tonnes.
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Basking sharks are harmless to humans and not aggressive and feed on zooplankton by swimming with their mouth open to catch them.
They can be spotted from May to September around the southwest of England, Wales, Isle of Man, and the west coast of Scotland.
Basking sharks are endangered and protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.