TEXAS, UNITED STATES: Texas Senator Ted Cruz found himself caught up in an old Internet hoax when he took to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday, August 21, to share what he believed was a picture of a shark on a flooded Los Angeles highway,

Cruz wrote, "Holy crap," while resharing a post by the user, Big Cat, who stated that his friends apparently took a picture of a shark swimming in the flooded 405 highway.

While Hurricane Hilary posed a genuine threat of catastrophic flooding in California, users of the platform swiftly pointed out that the image Cruz had shared was, in fact, fake.

Truth behind the photo of a shark swimming in a flooded LA highway

The fact-checking website Snopes stated, "An image purportedly documenting a shark swimming down a highway flooded by hurricane-related heavy rains was originally circulated as showing a street in Puerto Rico just after Hurricane Irene hit that island in August 2011," regarding the photo shared by Cruz.

"Since then the same image has been recirculated several times over, typically localized to some big city in the United States that has just experienced a hurricane or other weather event producing heavy rains and floods," added the website.

Internet slammed Texas Senator Ted Cruz over sharing the fake photo of a shark swimming in a flooded LA highway

Social media users were quick to take a dig at the senator after he shared the fake image.

One wrote, "Ted Cruz thought a shark was swimming down an LA highway. Of course he thinks Trump was a great President, so we all know he struggles with reality."

"Never forget that Ted Cruz — a US Senator — was fooled into sharing a fake photo of a shark swimming on the 405 in LA. He shared the fake news in the midst of an actual crisis. America deserves better than Ted Cruz," remarked one.

Meanwhile, another labeled him "dumb," and stated, "Wow, he is DUMB. Ted Cruz Falls For Hoax Photo Of Shark Swimming In Flooded LA Waters."

"It’s so f**king funny to be like 'oh you know LA is so crazy politics wise, those liberals, you might see a shark swimming up the freeway' after being duped by the most obvious photoshop in existence," added a user.

One expressed their frustration, saying, "This grown man who makes decisions at the highest level of government fell for this."

Meanwhile, Cruz promptly followed up with another post admitting that he had been tricked, writing, "I’m told this is a joke. In LA, you never know… And everyone please stay safe from the storm or otherwise."