Photo: Unsplash

Photo: Unsplash

The Inertia

Most shark bites happen by accident. Though Jaws has led to the popular narrative of sharks as man-hunting, killing machines, one prevailing theory states that a number of shark encounters are simply the result of mistaken identity – cases in which sharks mistake humans for seals or other prey. But as one Australian man found out recently, some seals may be purposefully deceiving sharks into actually making that mistake.

The incident occurred offshore from Kangaroo Island, located southwest of Adelaide, in South Australia. A man in his 50s was surfing on the south side of the island, when, around 1:00 p.m., he was bitten by a shark. It appears that the bite was a result of a seal using the man as a sort of human shield.

“A surfer has been taken to hospital after receiving two shark bites from a large Bronze Whaler at ‘The Sewer’ surf break, D’Estrees Bay,” wrote Shark Watch SA on Facebook, based on information from a public submission. “According to the report, a Bronze Whaler was chasing a seal around the bay when the seal used the surfer as a decoy and the victim was bitten twice by the shark.”

As ABC news reports, police said the man drove himself to a nearby hospital for treatment, with South Watch SA describing the surfer as being last seen in a “non-life-threatening condition.”