VIDEO: Great white shark breaches water near Cape Cod

WELLFLEET, Mass. (AP) — As the top shark expert in Massachusetts, Greg Skomal is used to up-close-and-personal experiences with great whites.

But even he was a little surprised when a white shark (also known as a great white shark) he spotted during a recent tagging trip breached the water and jumped up with its jaws open. It happened as Skomal stood on the extended bow of a research vessel.

A video posted on Facebook by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy on Monday shows Skomal, a senior biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, hopping away from the open jaws.

"Did you see that? Did you see that?" he says as he immediately returns to looking for the shark.

"While encounters like this one are rare, this video shows that they're certainly possible," the conservancy said in a statement. "White sharks are wild and unpredictable animals."