Police are investigating after a group of Maltese divers posted a photo of themselves posing with a shark they claimed to have caught, the Environment and Resources Authority has said. 

The photo and Facebook comment caused an uproar on social media and was quickly taken down by the uploader, with one of the divers subsequently telling Times of Malta that the photo was "more than a year old" and that in reality the group had found the shark "dead as it was washed ashore." 

The text in the original Facebook post had read: "We caught it before it caught us. Whoever thinks we do not do anything, this is what we do.” 

In a statement issued today, the ERA said that it had spoken with police about the incident. 

"The shark in question, which in all probability is actually a female Short-fin Mako Shark, is a protected species," the ERA said. Great white sharks, which resemble short-fin makos, were also protected, the ERA said. 

"The Monitoring & Compliance Unit of ERA is actively collaborating with the Police as the investigation is on-going."