Photo Of Mysterious Sea Creature Confuses Internet: Shark Or Dolphin?

A photo of a mysterious creature lurking beneath the waves on a Queensland beach confused the internet as some thought it was a dolphin, while others pointed at its tail and speculated it to be a shark.

The photo taken Friday at Duranbah Beach near Tweeds Heads showed a young surfer paddling very close to the aquatic animal.

Photographer, Kellie Wilson of Coolangatta -- the southernmost suburb of the City of Gold Coast -- said she didn’t notice the dark figure until she uploaded the picture onto her laptop later that night.

“I didn’t notice it until I got home and saw the photo on my laptop,” she reportedly said. “I uploaded it because I wanted to find the surfer ... turns out it was actually my friend’s son, he wasn’t sure what it was.”

Wilson posted the photo to two community Facebook pages, and within hours it received thousands of likes and comments.

“I didn’t expect such a huge reaction,” she said of the reaction to the photo. “People were arguing in the comments, others were saying I was creating fear by posting it... Lots of people thought it was a dolphin rather than a shark.”

One Twitter user wrote: "Clearly a Dolphin and there's even 2 of them swimming together. Pretty rare to see 2 sharks swim like this information. of the comments posted on social media," while a confused user wrote: "Very hard to tell, although dolphins have [a] sleek line to their bodies this doesn't look all that sleek but again the water distortion makes it hard."

Another Twitter user said it was a shark: "Having dived amongst them I can tell you that is, in fact, a Bronze Whaler Shark certainly not a dolphin bottlenose or any other variant."

Wilson said that she contacted Sea World’s resident marine expert Trevor Long, who said that it was "definitely a dolphin... It only looks like a flat tail because it’s being distorted by the angle of the wave."

The latest photo dividing the internet, reminded many of the craziness that engulfed social media when in 2015 when a photo of a dress gave rise to question if it was blue and black or white and gold.