Whoa! Watch This Great White Shark Chomp a Camera off the Cape

Some pretty good footage of sharks has been captured off the Cape over the years, but man, this one is amazing.

Researchers working off Monomoy captured a stunning video on a GoPro this week of a great white swimming quickly toward it, opening its jaw and chomping down, exposing its teeth and weird tongue to the camera for a moment before letting go and swimming away, then coming back for seconds.

The footage was captured on a trip led by acclaimed shark scientist Greg Skomal, of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, who is working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. The Conservancy says the shark featured in the “AWESOME” clip is 12 feet long.

It’s pretty rare you get to see these creatures from the point of view of their very unlucky prey. But don’t worry. The researchers know a thing or two about dealing with the fearsome animals–which, by the way, play a vital role in the ecosystem and are not dangerous when humans respect and monitor them—and no one was injured, or even scared.

“Video may look scary, but the GoPro is at the end of a long painter’s pole,” the Conservancy tweeted. “So, the team was not scared…they were excited!”