A Florida man spearfishing off Pompano Beach was chased Friday by a shark that wanted to make a snack out of his catch.
Sean O'Connor said he had just caught a hogfish and was putting it on his stringer when a friend mentioned a nearby nurse shark and asked if he would have any problems.
In a video posted to YouTube, O'Connor says probably not, but then the nurse shark comes after him. The action starts toward the end of the clip.
"I look down a second later and it's coming straight for me," O'Connor said in an Instagram post. "I start swimming backwards trying to keep it away with my fins and I realize the stringer is wrapped around my arm and the dead fish is on my body and the hog was in my hand."
Nurse sharks are normally docile, laying on the sand and staying mostly motionless, unless disturbed. But this one must have seen an opportunity for a easy dinner.
"I'm swimming fast, trying to untangle the stringer and fish from my arm, keep the hog out of the water, while kicking the shark who is trying to bite me and my fins," O'Connor said.
O'Connor got away, but the shark got the fish.
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