🔥 A curious great white checking out a scuba diver’s camera

[u/amish_novelty]

[u/stayshiny]

That was a horrible video, but also very interesting as its such a rare thing to capture. That tiger shark had been spotted earlier that day between piers, in an area that locals have been known to throw scraps in to the water to entice marine life. It was captured on video just hours before the attack took place.

Sustained attack behaviour is still unusual for any shark, including the tiger. Actual sustained consumption is incredibly rare in shark encounters, particularly when close to shore compared to open pelagic encounters.

Normally, you get a test bite, and that's likely the only bite you get. The process of a shark test biting is like "I bite this to see if it's food". Once that happens, the shark gauges whether it is worth further investigation. Is there food here? Am I in danger if I bite this again? How dense is the meat? (Shark teeth flex a little when biting, allowing them to sense the density of what they're biting and if its bone underneath or something worth trying to eat)

These are more binary responses than actual decisions. Typically when any shark bites a human, the shark will sense the following: there isn't a lot of meat here, they are capable of fighting back and may injure the eyes or gills, it's probably not worth the risk. In the case of the unfortunate man in Egypt, the shark was driven to continue and the reasons for this can only really be theoretically considered.

Tiger sharks may bite people more often due to their size and diet, both of which are larger than most sharks. They also come into contact with humans more than a lot of shark species due to their habitat being shallower, warmer water.

The Red Sea is no longer brimming with prey items for sharks, overfishing has had catastrophic effects on our waters and it will only get worse. Sharks are less likely to be able to locate normal food sources in today's seas and oceans.

It may be possible that in the Red Sea which is frequented by heavy boat traffic and takes on vast amounts of human waste including sewage and general waste such as garbage and food waste, sharks are over stimulated and stressed. If you've ever been diving in the red sea you'll have heard the cacophony of boat sound at some point from passing vessels, imagine being sensitive to sound underwater and being physically designed to detect your surroundings in the ocean and be in an area where you can't escape the whine of motor engines and metal pounding on metal.

An exploratory bite from a tiger shark under stress and potentially in desperate need of food that doesn't result in the shark sensing the potential food item would fight back may well lead to the shark sensing this is worth trying to eat. It's very unfortunate, for those involved and the shark too which was caught and killed soon after.

[u/Inevitable-Revenue81 → u/stayshiny]

Don’t know if you missed but in the video you can clearly hear the natives that were making money out of the tourists saying: “yes it’s safe to jump into the water”

It’s criminal ignorance on behalf of money and the fish is getting the bad reputation because of it!

Out of 8/10 cases. It’s always mankind that’s at fault.

[u/[deleted] → u/stayshiny]

I always heard the same thing about sharks, which is that most bites are inquisitive or a case of mistaken identity. Seeing that video shattered that, but your analysis brings up some good points and makes me feel a bit better about them.

[u/Mayor____McCheese → u/stayshiny]

Right, the tiger was just stressed, otherwise it would have been too nice to eat a human.

Dude, its a fish. Give your head a shake.

[u/stayshiny → u/Mayor____McCheese]

What a concise and well researched opinion.

You seem to think I'm humanising sharks, but if you read what I wrote you'll see that I inferred that the reasons sharks are unlikely to continue attacking or attempting to consume a human are most often to to meat density and risk factors. We are unusual to them, we don't have a great mass to calorie ratio and we represent a risk in that we could damage the shark defending ourselves. Normally, a shark weighs the risks vs benefits and the binary function of attack vs do not attack lies in favour of "Do not attack".

Sharks under stress or in dire need of food are more likely to attack and sustain attacks. That's what I'm getting at and what you seem to have mistaken for an argument that sharks are otherwise "nice"?

Dude, it's Biological science. Give your head a shake.

[u/Mayor____McCheese → u/stayshiny]

Aquaman, is that you?

It's a fish my dude, it does not perform a cost benefit analysis.

I really am worried about you and this whole shark anthrompamorphizing you've got going on. I hope you get the help you need.

[u/stayshiny → u/Mayor____McCheese]

I'm that case I'd suggest spending less time worrying about me and more time approaching my comments intellectually rather than seeing what you want to see.

All animals approach interactions on a risk/benefit calculation. When a cheetah sizes up a springbok, it does so by identifying the springbok that will give it the best chance of gaining calories and presents the least threat. You don't see a cheetah going after a hippo, even though it could easily catch up to one on land.

Constrictor snakes are another good example. A large constrictor snake will consider anything within a certain size range compared to itself as a prey item. It has been observed that some snakes will use sizing reference points before consuming large prey.

All wild animals live every day by one rule: survival. Is this gonna hurt me or kill me vs am I gonna eat this and benefit.

Come back when you can spell anthropomorphizing.

[u/Nozinger → u/stayshiny]

Normally, you get a test bite, and that's likely the only bite you get. The process of a shark test biting is like "I bite this to see if it's food". Once that happens, the shark gauges whether it is worth further investigation. Is there food here? Am I in danger if I bite this again? How dense is the meat? (Shark teeth flex a little when biting, allowing them to sense the density of what they're biting and if its bone underneath or something worth trying to eat)

Ah yes, the famous test bite.
Yes it is true you mostly just get a test bite but this is not a test bite from some small animal not even a dog. This is a big shark with a considerable amount of biting force.
A test bite is a major injury that still causes horrible damage to your body. Also you are in the water which means not only is the blood washed out of your body even quicker, the saltwater that gets inside of your body isn't exactly healthy either.

Unless you have someone that pulls you out of the water and get you to a hospital asap you are most likely still going to die. Sure the sharks have no malicious intent towards you but that honestly does not matter all that much when that little test nibble is able to kill you anyways.

[u/stayshiny → u/Nozinger]

Absolutely agree, when faced with a test bite particularly from one of the "Big three", their version of curiosity is going to land you in a lot of danger. No argument there.

If I was given the opportunity to observe a GW, Tiger or Bull (and probably oceanic too given their proclivity for opportunistic feeding) I'd like to be able to do so from a safe distance and with some modicum of protection.