Great white shark chokes to death on sea turtle

Smaller animal found locked in predator's jaws

Great white shark found dead after choking on sea turtle (Facebook/Greg Vella)

A fisherman has captured photos of the gruesome demise of a great white shark that choked to death on a sea turtle in Japan.

The images show the bloodied shark hauled onto land with the sea turtle still protruding from its mouth.

Greg Vella shared the images to the fishing group Commercial Salmon, Albacore & Crab Fishers on Facebook, explaining he had been fishing when he heard on the radio that a great white was swimming nearby with a sea turtle in its mouth.

The following day the corpse of the shark, which weighed 4,500lb, was found tangled in netting, according to the fisherman.

“I was out commercial ‘ken ken’ style fishing for tuna (Japan, Pacific Ocean side) when I heard chatter on the radio that there was a white shark swimming around with a big sea turtle in its mouth,” Mr Vella wrote. “People started to joke about it, so I did not pay it any more attention.

“Then next day, it was found dead, near the bait receivers, tangled in some netting.”

The great white shark was found in Japan (Facebook/Greg Vella)

The shark weighed 4,500 pounds (Facebook/Greg Vella)

The shark was spotting swimming by fisherman the day before (Facebook/Greg Vella)

According to Mr Vella, captains he’d asked about the shark said it had looked “close to death” the day before it died, as the creature had been unable to “dislodge the giant turtle”.

“The commercial guys were bummed, as white sharks do not bother their commercial fishing, and most certainly do bother the things that eat our catch,” he added.

The photos of the giant shark have since been shared more than 9,000 times.

Great white sharks are the largest predatory fish on Earth, according to National Geographic.

Their diet typically consists of sea lions, seals, and small-toothed whales.