
Surfer Ralph De Bie could not believe his eyes when he saw an eagle ray battling it out with a shark within yards of a tropical island beach.

The ray jumped into the air as it desperately sought to escape the clutches of the hammerhead shark.

After twisting and turning under and above the water and failing to get away, the ray resorted to beaching itself to escape the hunter's jaws. It then waited for the shark to leave and rode a wave to get back out to sea.

The spotted eagle ray jumps high into the air to avoid the hammerhead shark, which pursued it for several minutes

A huge splash goes up as the ray leaps into the air to escape from its predator

Mr De Bie, who is from Holland, caught the whole drama on a video camera while on holiday in Panama.

He said: 'We were driving the boat back from an epic surf trip and for a tropical pit-stop moment we rocked up at the south end of Zapatila Island.'

Within seconds of getting off the boat they spotted the eagle ray and saw that it appeared to be fleeing from the shark.

He said: 'It was amazing to see how fast the hammerhead is and how amazingly they are adapted to hunt these spotted eagle rays.

'The ray's solution was to beach itself and take a wave back out to sea and by doing so it managed to survive this epic battle.'

Spotted eagle rays are found in warm seas like the Caribbean. They prey upon crabs, shrimp, whelks and small octopuses but are themselves eaten by several species of shark. They are harmless to humans.

Mr De Bie, who lives in Amsterdam, said: 'Two of us jumped off the boat and seconds later on the other side of the boat we saw the ray jump, with the fin just behind it'

He said: 'The fin was just huge and the aggression was fierce'

Mr De Bie said: 'The big fin definitely helps its quick turning ability and as surfers we can only dream of a cutback turn like that'

The action took place yards from the beach on Zapatila Island, which is a popular spot for snorkellers

The spotted eagle ray would have made a tasty bit of lunch for the shark. Rays are sometimes caught by accident by fishermen in the Caribbean and are then eaten

The ray crashes back into the sea but the shark was unable to grab him before he leapt out again

Mr De Bie took these amazing photographs of the ray darting and diving to escape the shark

Hammerhead sharks are a common sight in the Caribbean but they rarely attack humans