Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, a Mexico-based shark researcher, has spent the past week diving in the Bahamas and sharing his adventures via social media.
On Friday, Hoyos Padilla shared a misadventure involving a shark that appeared to ram him after his failed attempt to feed the shark with a pole spear.
“I was killing lionfish in the Bahamas but when I was about to give the fish to the shark it got released from the spear and the shark was not happy with me,” Hoyos Padilla explained on Facebook. “I am ok, the shark never bit me at all.”
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The dramatic footage (posted below) shows his attempted offering. But just before the shark tried to bite the lionfish it fell from the spear and the shark bit the spear tip instead.
That provoked a swift reaction to charge toward the diver before swimming off. Hoyos Padilla was not injured.
It’s worth noting that sharks are accustomed to being fed at some dive sites in the Bahamas. Also, divers and fishermen are encouraged to kill highly invasive lionfish because they threaten native marine life.