Look, I usually don’t wish bad on anyone except paedophiles and Mrs Brown’s Boys fans, but I reckon I can make a little room for people who try to mount pregnant sharks.
This disturbing footage captures the moment a scuba diver is bitten by a pissed off pregnant shark as he tries to manoeuvre it around an aquarium, or whatever. Frankly, I have no idea what this guy’s doing.
The video was captured by staff at uShaka Marine World in Durban, South Africa and shows divers pursuing the ragged tooth shark in the water.
Also known as a sand tiger shark, this sea-creature is approached by two men who appear to try and tranquilise the predator using a syringe.
The divers get closer to the shark, with one man swimming up behind it, grabbing hold of its right fin to sound out its condition. To the surprise of the diver, the predator appears to feel threatened by his actions and serves him a can of whoop-ass in the form of a bite.
It spins around and lunges at him with its teeth, savagely piercing his arm. The two grapple for a few moments before the man eventually swims to freedom. Albeit an embarrassed, shell-shocked and wounded one.
Staff immediately tend to the diver, who is seen bleeding heavily. The extent of his injuries were serious, according to MailOnline.
The footage was in fact captured in 2011 but took a few years to go properly viral.
The geezer was treated for serious wounds but made a full recovery and has since been returned to the water.
Shark Year Magazine at the time reported uShaka CEO Dr Mark Penning said:
Luckily he’s a tough guy. He’s in hospital, and he’s being very well looked after. He was more worried about not being able to go to the cricket today then what the shark did.
This is not an aggressive shark, it’s not a species of shark that will deliberately go out and hunt a diver, but the animal got scared and it lashed out, and unfortunately his arm was in the way at that time.
Sand tiger sharks, also known as gray nurse sharks, have a deceivingly ferocious look. They are large-bodied and display a mouthful of sharp teeth that protrude in all directions. In spite of this, they are a largely docile, non-aggressive species, known to lash out on humans only when bothered first, as seen in the above clip.
They are brownish-gray with rust-colored spots on top and white underneath. They have a flattened, cone-shaped snout. Individuals range in size from 6.5 to 10.5 feet in length. Again, another reason why not to mess with them.
Sand tigers are the only shark known to come to the surface for air, which they store in their stomachs, allowing them to float motionless in the water, seeking prey. ‘They are voracious predators,’ National Geographic writes, ‘feeding at night and generally staying close to the bottom. Their staple is small fish, but they will eat crustaceans and squid as well. They occasionally hunt in groups, and have even been known to attack full fishing nets.’
‘Although this species is widespread and is not widely fished for food, it has one of the lowest reproduction rates of all sharks and is susceptible to even minimal population pressure. For this reason, it is listed as vulnerable and is protected in much of its range.’
So there you have it, folks. Stay away from these guys and you won’t get hurt.
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