A man jumped onto a whale shark and attempted to ride the animal by clinging onto its dorsal fin.
The stuntman, named locally as Zaki Al-sabahy, was filmed sitting on the bow of a yacht as he eyed up the sharks swimming close to the port city of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
Moments later, the man clambers down into the water and lands on the back of the large fish. Incredibly, the whale shark remains calm as it swims off with the man clinging to its dorsal fin.
The footage was shot in the Red Sea near Yanbu city in Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, whale sharks are very rare in the Red Sea.
شاهد عدد من شباب #ينبع
زاكي الصبحي
بادر الكبيدي
ياسر الرفاعييسبحون مع حوت او قرش #البهلوان
الذي يعتمد في غذائه على العوالق البحريةسالم السناني – ينبع
— صـ حـ يـ فـ ـة ا لـ مـ د يـ نـ ـة (@Almadinanews) August 16, 2020
The whale shark, the world’s largest fish, is listed as ‘endangered’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List due to the impacts of fisheries, by-catch losses, and vessel strikes, along with the animal’s long lifespan and late maturation.
Despite their size, whale sharks are not dangerous and younger animals are known to play with scuba divers.