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JAWS wide open, lips pulled back and razor sharp teeth on show - this extreme close-up photograph of a great white shark might just be the best of its kind EVER.

And perhaps even more shocking, it was captured by an amateur snapper.

Art teacher Amanda Brewer, 25, captured the unbelievable moment while working as a volunteer for White Shark Africa - a charity which works with animal conservationists and eco-tourists.

The primary school teacher, from New Jersey, travelled to South Africa to get up-close and personal with great whites in their natural habitat.

But she never realised she would be getting quite so near to the colossal creatures.

Her remarkable snaps were taken while the daredevil shark enthusiast was cage diving in Mossel Bay, off Seal Island, and an enormous female beast lunging for fish bait appeared right before her eyes.

Amanda's new GoPro caught the moment and her photo has since gone viral.

She told Time Lightbox: "When you're there and you're in their presence, it's not scary.

"They're beautiful and graceful, and you can see how intelligent they are."

She added that her GoPro's fish-eye lens made the shark seem even more menacing than it was in real life.

But Amanda's photos have sparked controversy, inspiring an internet debate about whether it is ethical to bait sharks - many of which are threatened species.

Ricardo Lacombe posted on the White Shark Interest Group Facebook page:"Bait usage is fine in my book as an attractant, but dragging it at the cage like this is asking for trouble for the shark.

"So disappointed this shot is getting so much coverage ... but a chance to try and educate people I guess."

Responding to the criticism on GrintTV, Amanda - who has hung the vivid snapshot in her classroom at Whitman Elementary School in Washington Township to inspire her pupils - said the bait was being pulled away from the cage, so there was no way the shark could go near the cage.

"That’s one thing that we learned right off the bat, is that you never want the shark to make contact with the cage," she said.

"And you also don’t want the shark to eat the bait. You don’t feed the sharks; that’s not what we want to do."

Check out footage of a killer whale fighting a tiger shark below.

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