Florida Man Captures Astonishing Photos Of Pregnant Bull Shark During Face-To-Face Encounter

RIVIERA BEACH (CBSMiami) — Florida man Captain John Moore is no stranger to sharks. He is a boat captain for a shark diving company in Riviera Beach, but his recent close encounter with a pregnant and very large bull shark and the amazing photographs he took are going viral.

Captain Moore spoke to our sister station CBS12 in West Palm Beach about his exhilarating adventure off the coast of Jupiter a couple of weeks ago.

"She came powering right up through the other bulls," said Moore as he described his encounter with a massive bull shark off the coast of Palm Beach County. "She was super dominant, just right in the forefront of everything."

Moore is a captain with the longtime-running diving company Florida Shark Diving. He heads up the local operations.

Miles off the shore in South Florida, in a sea of Bull Sharks, Moore captured awe-inspiring photos that went viral on his Instagram account.

"She was swimming right up to my mask and just kind of sizing up what was going on out there and she was just so impressive," Moore said.

The 55-year-old man snapped photos of what appeared to be an oversized pregnant bull shark. He was close enough to see its razor-sharp teeth and yellow-tinted eyes while diving earlier this month.

His close-range photos show the shark feeding off bait for more than a half hour.

"She looked like she was ready to pop, she was almost, like, round she was so big," Moore said.

Moore, who is an experienced diver, photographer, and conservation advocate, shares his pictures of sharks on Instagram.

"A lot of people hear the word bull shark, and they think scary intimidating predator. I don't see them like that at all," Moore said.

Florida has the highest concentration of large sharks along its surrounding coastline than anywhere else on the East Coast.

There are sharks present year-round which makes Florida one of the best places to dive with sharks in the world.

Bull sharks, which usually travel in packs, are believed to be one of the most aggressive sharks in the ocean.

Bull sharks are at home in both offshore and inshore water along with fresh water. Bull sharks are big heavy bodied sharks that are often found in packs. They are sometimes wary of divers but if food is present can become very aggressive. They range from 5-14 feet long and can weigh over 1,500 pounds.