The crocodile (circled) is just feet away from chef Kyle MacLennan as he swims towards his boat without realising the danger he is in
Australian chef Kyle MacLennan is a dab hand at cooking crocodile steaks - but the tables were nearly turned when he went for a swim near Darwin.
Mr MacLennan, 26, was totally unaware that a man-eater was eyeing him
as he swam from a beach to his boat, moored a few yards away.
Even his mother, Lui MacLennan, who took a photo of him with her camera-phone, failed to see the saltwater crocodile lurking nearby.
It was only when she returned to her Sydney home a few days later and looked through her pictures that she saw the dark shape of the crocodile some 30ft from her son.
When she sent a copy of the picture to him, he was horrified.
'No-one knew it was there,' he told the Northern Territory News.
He was visiting the beach with his mother and her friend when he went for the swim.
'I was completely unaware of the crocodile until I saw the pic.
'I was really hoping it was a practical joke being played by my mum, but she assures me it wasn't. It looks like it was looking right at me.'
He admitted that after his mother had seen the picture 'there were a
couple of frantic e-mails.'
He added that his mother was always telling him to keep himself safe.
Although the crocodile is thought to be a juvenile, if it had caught him he could still have been killed or seriously injured.
source: dailymail