Terrifying Moment a Gigantic Shark Shows Off His Jagged Teeth to a Scuba Diver
“I'll just add that to my nightmares for tonight!”
Scuba diving in shark-infested waters is not for the faint of heart, as one diver can attest. Matt Prior, a diving instructor from South West Rocks dive center, was swimming in the water on the North Shore of New South Wales, Australia when he came face-to-face with a terrifying sight—a Gray Nurse shark with its teeth fully on display. The huge shark swam right up to him, giving Prior a close-up of rows of jagged teeth. Prior captured the incident on his GoPro camera—here's what the footage showed.
Prior, a seasoned diver was in the water at the shallow end of Fish Rock Cave, one of the center's diving sites. Footage shows the Gray Nurse shark coming up to Prior, opening its mouth, and then opening its jaw so a giant row of teeth came forward out of the mouth. Prior was clearly not bothered by the sight, and the shark swam away. Keep reading to learn more and see the video.
The diving center posted a video of the incident on their Facebook page, and even people familiar with sharks might find the jaw movement of the shark a little scary—but the divers clearly didn't. "Hey Mr Dentist, can you please check if I have a fish stuck in my teeth," they captioned the video.
People were horrified and impressed at the incredible footage. "I was so fascinated with this sharks jaw that it didn't register till after some actually took this photo, that person is my hero, terrific shot and no shakes, wow," one commenter said. "Oh goody. I'll just add that to my nightmares for tonight!" said another. "It's like it's sharing with you! It's just awesome," said a third.
Gray Nurse sharks are also known as sand tiger sharks and, contrary to their terrifying appearance, are known to be friendly toward humans. "They're basically the Labradors of the ocean, is what I tell people," says diver Craig Taylor from Shellharbour in New South Wales. "They're very docile, they will swim up to you and past you."
Related:These Sharks Are Able to "Walk" and Do Headstands to Catch Prey, Study Finds
The Gray Nurse shark is in danger of becoming extinct, warn conservationists. "What the gray nurse shark tends to do is move up and down the coast on a yearly basis and they stop at particular aggregation sites up and down the east coast," says conservation biologist Adam Stow, an associate professor in the school of natural sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney and shark expert for over 20 years.
"Even if you do see fluctuations like an increase in the numbers of gray nurse sites at particular aggregation sites, it's not necessarily an indication that the population at large is growing. We need to keep a very close eye on the gray nurse shark because it's very much at risk." Watch the video here.
