You know that shark in Houston floodwater photo? It's totally fake.
There are many reasons to avoid floodwater whenever possible, but residents of Houston struggling under Tropical Storm Harvey's unprecedented downpour needn't fear a shark.
A photo of a shark supposedly swimming through Houston's flooded streets went viral on Monday ... but the photo's fake.
The shark in this photo isn't native to waters anywhere near the United States, but was originally photographed watching a kayaker in South Africa.
Published in a 2005 issue of Africa Geographic, conservation photographer Thomas Peschak snapped the original (and stunning) image while working on a book about great white sharks.
Here's how it happened, according to Peschak:
I trained my camera on the nebulous shadow as it slowly transformed into the sleek silhouette of a large great white. When the shark’s dorsal fin emerged, I thought I had the shot but hesitated a fraction of a second. In that moment, the research assistant in the kayak, Trey Snow, turned to look behind him, and I took the shot.
The shot is iconic, and the shark in it has repeatedly found new digital life. It's popped up in edited photographs that show the shark swimming through flooded streets in various cities for years, from New Jersey to Puerto Rico.
Peschak himself has written about friends sending him emails about pictures of the shark he photographed, except now photoshopped into some other part of the globe.
On Aug. 21, 2011, as Hurricane Irene blew through Puerto Rico, Peschak says the shark appeared in an edited photo swimming through a Puerto Rican street. Three days later, it wound up on a news site. The next year, his shark made an appearance swimming through the streets of New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy.
"I always look forward to receiving emails from friends and family who have spotted the same white shark in a different context," Peschak wrote on his website. "While I will probably never become a legend in my own right, at least my white shark is well on her way."
Sharks shouldn't make the list of things Houston residents are concerned about, but several residents have spotted alligators around as the flooding continues.
That said, fake photos of alligators are out there, too.
The above photo, for example, has been making some rounds on social media, and while it was taken in Houston, the photo is from April.
The National Weather Service didn't mention alligators in an earlier "hurricane safety" tweet, but it did say to avoid floodwater "as it may be electrically charged from underground or downed power lines and may hide dangerous debris or places where the ground is washed away."
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Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
