Mark Graham lived to tell the tale of his encounter with a "super inquisitive" great white shark that nibbled on his GoPro camera during a dive
A United Kingdom resident has a shark tale you have to see to believe — luckily, the shocking interaction was caught on camera.
According to The New York Post, Mark Graham recently took a sea trip that could have turned deadly. While embarking on a Great White Shark Cage Diving Crew tour in South Africa, as the tour's videographer, he came face to face with an apex predator. "People seem to love the clip," the 31-year-old said of the great white shark footage, which is currently making its rounds on social media.
The unforgettable expedition took place in Klein Brak, Mossel Bay. Graham's GoPro Hero camera was recording when the great white appeared before the dive group. The device captured the aquatic inhabitant opening its large mouth, baring rows of razor-sharp teeth,
In the clip, the shark swims up to Graham in the murky South African waters. Per National Geographic, great whites can reach over 20 feet in length and weigh more than 4,000 pounds. Their massive muscles and mouth allow them to wreak havoc on their prey.
However, Graham described his shark encounter as "gentle" and "super inquisitive." After approaching the diver, the shark lightly nudged the GoPro Hero attached to his head and swam away.
"Their electro receptors can pick up the GoPro, so they get super curious and come in close to investigate," Graham told Media Drum World, per the New York Post. "It was an incredibly gentle interaction from the shark. It was just trying to figure out what the strange electrical thingy in the water was."
Graham added that others who saw the incident may have been "freaked out," but he appreciated the rare moment.
"Having such a personal and gentle interaction with such a big animal felt extremely captivating," he confessed. And although movies like Jaws and Deep Blue Sea may not paint the predators in the best light, the U.K. diver wants individuals to respect the deep sea creatures.
"I think humans have an instinctive fear of what they can't see and don't understand. If you get the chance to see them in the wild, go and see them, I guarantee your perception will change," he said earlier this year after a similar encounter.
While Graham made it through his shark experience untouched, a Florida resident can't say the same. On July 14, Chris Pospisil, a University of Central Florida student, had a near-fatal interaction with a shark. The 21-year-old was surfing with his friend Reece Redish at New Smyrna Beach when a shark knocked him off his surfboard. The predator then latched onto the young man's foot.
"The shark came from under me, on my board, and tipped me backwards off my board, and I was falling backwards, I saw my foot in his mouth, and it dragged me under," Pospisil recalled as he spoke to FOX affiliate WOFL-TV. He credits Redish for helping him survive the terrifying ordeal.
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"Reece was already there, already on top of me, got me by my shirt, and pulled me on the board," Pospisil said. Once on shore, he hoped his injuries would be minimal. "I remember asking the lifeguard, 'Am I going to lose my foot?' He was like, 'I don't know, man,'" the college student added.
While noting that "The top of my foot is going to be numb in some areas for the rest of my life, and my foot might be stiff because they had to repair all seven tendons," Pospisil added that he is ready to return to the water. "It hasn't changed anything. I'm definitely going to keep surfing. It's my lifestyle, and it's something I love to do," he admitted.
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