With his hand just inches away from the jaws of a six and a half foot shark, this diver uses a special technique to hypnotise the predator into an almost motionless state.
Shark expert and marine biologist Riccardo Sturla Avogadri uses the 'relax immobility' technique to calm the sharks, putting them into a hypnotised state.
But despite the confidence shark hypnotists have in their technique they still wear chain mail amour to protect them from the sharks. Troy said: "The shark expert is wearing chain mail armour as an extra protection from shark bites."I am also a certified shark expert and I have had many direct encounters with different sharks over my 30 year diving career
"This helped me remain calm and have a steady hand taking good underwater photos surrounded by the sharks."
Once they are in this docile state the sharks can be closely examined to learn more about them.
Engineer and shark expert Troy Iloski captured the moment Riccardo used the technique whilst surrounded by 50 other Grey Reef sharks in the Bahamas