• Incredible photographs show the heart-stopping moment a powerful great white shark went into attack mode
  
• The whopping great white darted forwards at the only possible angle which allowed it to get inside a protective cage

By Anthony Bond ^[1]

PUBLISHED: 06:53 EST, 8 November 2012 | UPDATED: 09:24 EST, 8 November 2012

As one of the world's most feared predators, great white sharks don't need any extra motivation to take a chunk out of unsuspecting divers and swimmers.

But when one diver decided to wear a T-shirt with the words 'Bite Me' written on it during an expedition, it seemed to rile one particularly grumpy shark.

These incredible photographs show the heart-stopping moment the powerful great white went into attack mode and shot towards experienced diver Hugo Reiner.

Close-call: When Hugo Reiner decided to wear a T-shirt with the words 'Bite Me' written on it during an expedition, it seemed to rile this particularly grumpy shark. It is pictured with its eyes closed in attack mode

Invitation: As one of the world's most feared predators, great white sharks don't often need much motivation to launch an attack. But Mr Reiner's T-shirt certainly provoked one grumpy shark

The whopping great white darted forwards at the only possible angle which allowed it to get inside the protective cage and within inches of taking a chunk out of Mr Reiner and his fellow divers.

But fortunately the divers were able to move backwards just in time to escape its razor-sharp teeth - while at the same time being able to capture the real-life Jaws moment with this spectacular series of shots.

Mr Reiner, from Florida, USA, was on an expedition to Guadalupe Island - off the west coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula - where divers can exit the cages and experience swimming freely with the deep sea beasts.

 

He was wearing the fate-tempting top for a picture opportunity.

Experiencing open water swimming with sharks was the reason for his trip - but Mr Reiner soon found out that while he was trying to get out of the cage the angry shark was more keen on getting inside it.

He said: 'The captain of the boat and other shark experts say it is extremely rare - the shark had to approach at the exact trajectory to get this close to us and the chances of them doing so are almost zero.

In trouble: The team of divers were on an expedition to Guadalupe Island - off the west coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula - when they came across this angry shark

Worrying: The whopping great white darted forwards at the only possible angle which allowed it to get inside the protective cage and within inches of taking a chunk out of Mr Reiner and his fellow divers

'The cage has these openings to allow large underwater camera systems to have unimpeded access to the sharks.

'Four of us were in the cage submerged about 30ft underwater as the large male great white started circling us as we were snapping away.

'The next thing I know its head is inside the cage with its eyes closed - which is attack mode - with its razor sharp teeth so close I could count the serrations.

'It all happened within seconds - I didn't even realise my finger continued pressing the camera trigger until afterwards. We joked he didn't like my t-shirt as he came straight for us.

Grumpy: The shark started circling the men while they were 30ft underwater in the shark cage

Aggressive: The shark was circling and then within seconds it went straight towards a gap in the cage

'You can see my fellow divers froze and weren't able to take any shots - it was a truly petrifying moment and I was just fortunate I was in the middle of shooting.

'Anytime you're interacting with an apex predator in the wild the danger level is extreme so thankfully everyone made it out unscathed.'

Hugo bought his 'Bite Me' t-shirt in a souvenir shop after a previous dive trip to Key West, Florida, back in 2010 and thought it would be funny to take it to Guadalupe Island.

Chance of a lifetime: The divers are pictured trying to photograph the shark

Lucky: Hugo Reiner is pictured following his heart-stopping dive

He added: 'You can choose between hundreds of graphics that can be instantly printed onto a variety of shirts.

'I saw one that read 'Bite Me' inside an open shark jaw with 'Key West' printed below the jaw but I asked the shop if they could remove the 'Key West' part.

'While on the Guadalupe Island trip I decided to wear it over my 7mm wetsuit to get a humorous photo underwater - little did I know what would happen next.'

 

References

1. ^{^} Anthony Bond (www.dailymail.co.uk)
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