Scared of 'em or not, the idea of a shark taking a chunk out of your body is downright terrifying. However, a step above that horror image would be a shark that bites you and simply doesn't let go. That's what American Ervin Maccarty experienced while he was swimming in waters off the coast of Marthon, Florida, trying to find some lobsters.
A video shows him coming onto a boat with a small shark firmly attached his stomach. The person behind the camera thinks the situation is pretty funny and another even asks Ervin: "He didn't get your penis, did he?"
But the pain appears all too real for the swimmer who drops to the floor and hopes his friends can help get the shark off him. They decide the best course of action is to thrust a knife into the fish and hope that the wound will cause it to relinquish their friend.
Credit: Newflare
A man is seen driving the blade into the underwater animal, above its left fin and near its gills. The knife goes straight through the other side and the man holding the serrated weapon is sawing through the shark like it's a firm piece of steak.
With plenty of blood spilling out of the still-alive shark, the knife-wielding man can be heard on camera, jokingly saying, "I gotta bleed him out, Erv." His friends urge him to stab the shark right 'in between the eyes' and 'in his brain'. Finally the shark lets go, only to bite down hard seconds later.
Despite his friends laughing throughout the ordeal, Ervin looks both worried and in pain. But he eventually becomes his own saviour, managing to unhook the shark from his belly and toss the carcass to one side.
Credit: Newsflare
The man at the centre of the drama has told the Daily Mail: "I struggled to get back to the boat. [The shark] hit me hard. It knocked the breath out of me so I had to get up for air but I felt the shark biting and trying to tear me open. I thought I would drown.
"I had to get to the boat with no hands to swim with. It was a struggle and it wore me out. I eventually got there."
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Some people have hit out at the way the shark was removed from Ervin's stomach, however. Facebook user Stephanie Howard wrote: "One baby shark has to die so the human, who was in NO danger at all, gets to live! FFS, poor shark."
Lisa Jane added: "They done all that wrong and cruelly. Even if it was me that shark was biting into and not letting go, I wouldn't have let anyone hack him/her with a knife like that. The shark would have let go eventually."
While the shark might not have been so large, it goes to show that sharks of any size can still pack a punch and do some damage. Luckily he was only left with a small bite mark.
Source: Daily Mail
Topics: bite, Florida, shark attack, shark