RARE pictures have captured so called "phantom" sharks lurking in the depths of the Atlantic ocean just off the US coast.
Married photographers Joe and Lauren Romeiro managed to take footage of the beasts - real name porbeagle - off Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
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They captured the deep water predators - which grow up to eight feet long and weigh 300 pounds - in footage they shared online this summer.
Joe Romeiro told Go Local Prov there are "very few photos or film footage of free-swimming porbeagle sharks anywhere in the world".
He added: "We were out at night on our research vessel to capture what few have ever witnessed, hoping for just one porbeagle but then we saw five interacting with each other.
"It was the motherload!”
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The fish are known as the "phantom" shark due to the difficulty in tracking them down.
Lauren added: "Out of over 500 species, porbeagles are one of only five that are able to warm their bodies, making them a super predator in the cold waters of the North Atlantic.
"The porbeagle dominates this area in the cold winter months."
Sharing images of the shark online, Joe said the beasts are "often mistaken for the great white shark and the mako shark".
The couple - who are shark cinematographers - "try and change the way people see sharks through the photography and videos", Joe told CNN in 2020.
It comes as a great white shark was reportedly spotted by three divers just 100 yards from the Californian coastline.
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And conservation experts have warned that the beasts are continuing to hunt along the shore even though the beach season may be nearing an end.
More than 60 predators were detected along the Cape Cod coastline between August 25-30, according to Sharktivity.
Experts at the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy warned: “It’s important to note that white sharks in still in the area, hunting and feeding on seals in shallow water.”
One witness reportedly saw a great white feasting on a seal near Orleans, Massachusetts on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, an 11-foot shark named Iceland and the nine-and-a-half foot long beast Elephant were spotted on Wednesday.
Sharks have been spotted lurking close to the shores of Nauset Beach and Chatham.
Last week, a shark that measured 12-14 feet was spotted off the Massachusetts coastline.
The beasts tend to migrate to Cape Cod during the summer months because of its warmer waters.
Megan Winton, of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, told Boston25 that shark sightings tend to peak in August and remain steady until the end of October.
She said: “Just know that large sharks are here. They’re a constant presence from June to the fall.”
Sharks are notorious for swarming bays and estuaries along America’s East Coast to find food.
HUNTING PREDATORS
The predators also control the seal population, which has boomed off the coast of Cape Cod.
And Steven Spielberg’s 1975 hit movie Jaws was filmed on Martha’s Vineyard.
Dramatic footage shared online has captured the moment a great white ripped a porpoise to shreds.
The dolphin-like animal could be seen floating on the water before the predator devoured it.
The great white burst to the surface and overpowered the porpoise.
Red can be seen in the water as the shark viciously shakes its head back and forth to get a better grip on its catch.
Experts said the clip is a “good reminder” that sharks just don’t eat seals.
FEASTING ON THEIR PREY
A bohemian 14-foot-long shark was spotted feasting on a sea turtle off the coast of Hawaii.
The huge beast was spotted near the shore in waters fronting Maili Cove Apartments, according to KITV.
There have been dozens of reported shark attacks across the country amid the rise in sightings.
Two swimmers were mauled off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina within hours on August 15.
Karren Sites was on vacation when she said a shark had bitten her arm.
Sites was in waist-deep water with her grandson, who was just a couple of feet away, at the time of the bite.
She told WPDE: “I just felt something, I guess, bite me and there was a shark on my arm. I was only in waist-deep water. I kept pushing at it to get it off my arm and it did.”
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Sites needed surgery and received hundreds of stitches.
And, Jameson Reeder Jr, 10, was forced to have part of his leg amputated after being bitten by a shark while on vacation in the Florida Keys.
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