Is a photo of a shark along a Houston freeway real? No, it’s not.

A photo of a shark in the water along with a caption claiming it was taken along a freeway in Houston in Texas is spreading virally online.

Texas is currently experiencing severe flooding after Hurricane Harvey hit The Lone Star State, and while stories of how destructive this hurricane has proved to be circulate social media, so too has this familiar photo…

Believe it or not, this is a shark on the freeway in Houston, Texas. #HurricaneHarvy

However, despite the claims made in the caption, this isn’t a photo of a shark on a Texas freeway. The photo has been digitally altered to make it appear that the shark is swimming in an urban environment, when that is really not the case.

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We previously debunked this photo when it circulated the Internet claiming to show the aftermath Hurricane Irene in 2011 then later the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy 2012.

But this shark has made some other sneaky appearances in Internet folklore as well, including a viral photo claiming to show the collapse of the shark tank in the Scientific Center in Kuwait – see the photo below, where you can see the shark on the left is the same shark in the photo above.

For those that are interested, the original photo of this shark is from 2005 and comes from a (probably more impressive) photo showing a kayaker being stalked by a four metre great white shark.

When disasters occur such as severe hurricanes, we often see an array of attention seekers, faux-journalists and easily-duped social media users share images of marine life in otherwise urban environments. But more often than not these images are fake, and we recommend performing some due diligence before sharing them.