Horrific photos show a dolphin after it was almost ripped apart by a shark that mauled it just yards from a beach.
A junior doctor watched and documented the upsetting ordeal in South Carolina, US, and posted pictures of the aftermath on Reddit.
He said: "Dolphin that got attacked by a shark in waist deep water, watched the whole thing unfold before he washed up."
One user confirmed it by saying the "clean, circular edge" of the bite mark is compatible with shark-inflicted injuries.
The same person also noted that large sharks such as tiger sharks and great whites have "absolutely nothing to fear from dolphins and will prey on dolphins with impunity".
It was believed, however, that the shark was too small to have made the original kill, and was likely just eating the remains once it saw the blood.
Redditors believed a bull shark or tiger shark could have killed the dolphin initially.
One picture shows the fin and tail of a shark skulking in the shallows a few feet from the carcass.
The dolphin's throat looked like it may have been ripped out - almost fully decapitating it.
The news comes as two people were bitten by sharks on the same day last week in the popular holiday spot of Myrtle Beach, in South Carolina.
Karren Sites of Pittsburgh told Myrtle Beach television station WPDE that she was waist-deep in the sea, playing with her eight-year-old grandson when a shark approached and bit her arm.
She said she pushed the animal away until it released her and had to have "hundreds" of stitches.
The Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File investigated 137 alleged shark-human interactions worldwide in 2021.
It confirmed 73 unprovoked shark bites on humans and 39 provoked bites.
The United States recorded the most unprovoked bites of any country, with 47, and South Carolina reported four total bites.
Earlier this summer, a Florida teen’s leg was amputated after a shark bit her twice as she was collecting scallops.
