THIS is the heart-stopping moment a fisherman wrestled with a great white shark and held back its jaws to yank out a fishing hook.
Boat captain Elliot Sudal accidentally caught the rare predator in Nantucket, Massachusetts and hauled him to shore.
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The man bravely reached forward with one hand while wielding pliers in the other Credit: @bryner_oliveira / Instagram via Storyful
He yanked back the jaws of the killer predator and reached inside to free it from the hook Credit: @bryner_oliveira / Instagram via Storyful
Jaw-dropping footage shows the man drag the predator out by his tail before straddling the beast as it thrashes beneath him.
Stunned onlookers swarmed around Elliot as he struggled with the roughly 8ft long shark on Jattvibeday.
A younger man can be seen rushing to his side and handing him a pair of pliers.
The veteran fisherman then yanked back the shark’s mouth and reached into the jaws of the notorious killer.
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With his bare hands, he freed the shark from the fishing hook – all in less than 15 seconds.
Elliot said he and his apprentice felt a tug on the line – but it was only after they reeled in the monster catch that they realised what it was.
The captain told Nantucket Current that he’d caught more than 2,00 sharks over the years – but never a great white.
“By no means expected this to happen,” Elliot said. “Definitely not.”
Elliot bravely hauled the great white out of the ocean Credit: Instagram/Elliot Sudal
Beach goers were shocked when Elliot straddled the killer animal Credit: Instagram/Elliot Sudal
Elliot regularly fishes and tags sharks in Nantucket to track the different species.
But he did not mean to snag a rare great white, saying they were not “targeting that white” adding “you can’t control what picks up your bait”.
When the shark was on the line he snapped into action: “Shark was in the surf, removed the hook and sent her back to sea in about 15 seconds”, recalled Elliot.
“[I] saw the spotted pectoral fin flash in a wave and just focused,” he recalled.
He dragged out the monster catch with his bare hands Credit: @bryner_oliveira / Instagram via Storyful
He subdued the beast with practised efficiency Credit: @bryner_oliveira / Instagram via Storyful
He quickly understood the “gravity of the situation” and worked to release it “quickly and safely”, he said.
Elliot released footage of the incredible encounter to show others how to catch killer fish.
He urged fishermen to take online courses and to “respect the animal and be safe”.
The shark is reportedly safe back in the seas.
It comes as one diver captured what is believed to be the world’s first footage of a great white underwater.
Amazing footage shows the apex predator silently gliding through the Mediterranean Sea, accompanied by a small shoal of fish.
The shark – measuring roughly 13ft – approached a crew of divers in what is thought to be the first time the species has been filmed underwater in the Med.
Diver Derk Remmers described the rare encounter off the coast of Italy as “pretty special”.
