Dead shark picture: Questions remain over Facebook images of enormous shark caught off Australian coast

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Louise Thomas

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Photographs of an enormous Tiger shark fished off the eastern Australian coast have emerged on social media.

There are few details about the shark, reportedly caught three weeks ago off the New South Wales coastline, but photographs depicting the mammoth beast have been widely shared online.

NSW newspaper The Northern Star claims the four metre catch was made by a local fisherman known only as “Matthew”.

"I was the one that took that photo and I was the one that caught that fish," he claimed.

Matthew added that he caught the creature around 14 miles off Tweed Heads, NSW, and that he was initially unsure of the species.

"I just had to confirm with a bloke that it was a Tiger and not a Great White and I used those photos to show him," he told the newspaper.

The images first emerged after Byron Bay resident Geoff Brooks posted them to his Facebook timeline.

However, Mr Brooks has subsequently admitted he did not take the images – but continued to claim that the photographs are “real”. Social media users have criticised the images, with some claiming they are fake.

Tiger sharks, which commonly grow up to around five metres long, can be legally commercially fished in large part of the seas off the NSW coast.

A spokesperson for the Department of Primary Industries told the Brisbane Times that the department was not investigating the incident. "This size is not unusual for a tiger shark," he added.