A BRAVE soul bared his skin to the Territory sun while tempting fate as crocodile bait.

An Alyangula resident snapped a photo of a bloke lazing on the shore of croc-infested waters on Groote Eylandt.

Alyangula Golf Club manager Jessica Smee said the man was dicing with death if he was on the main beach.

“There’s a local (crocodile) that lives down there,” she said.

“One was recently spotted near the boat ramp … and a dog was taken off the beach about a month ago.”

Ms Smee also said a man had regularly jogged by the beach every afternoon after work before a crocodile jumped out at him.

“He hasn’t been back since,” she said.

“We used to walk our dog along the beach there but now our dog doesn’t even remember it exists.”

Ms Smee also questioned the man’s desire to expose himself to some of the harshest rays in the world.

“You can sunbake by just walking home here.”

This year there had been 27 crocodiles removed from Territory waterway by rangers.

Last year a total of 290 were removed.