{"id":254237,"date":"2025-10-27T08:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T08:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/254237\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T08:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T08:34:09","slug":"scientists-explain-why-harmless-sharks-devoured-swimmer-in-chilling-world-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/254237\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Explain Why &#8216;Harmless&#8217; Sharks Devoured Swimmer in Chilling World First"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A species of shark never before documented killing humans has now done so, devouring a swimmer in a chilling first.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On 21 April 2025, a 40-year-old tourist was snorkeling in the Mediterranean more than 100 meters off the coastline of Hadera, Israel, using a GoPro to film a group of dusky sharks (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dusky_shark\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Carcharhinus obscurus;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Carcharhinus obscurus<\/a>) when the incident occurred.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Scientists believe the attack began when a curious shark took an exploratory bite at the GoPro and missed. Instead, the shark accidentally bit the man holding the camera; the blood and panic that ensued likely triggered a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Feeding_frenzy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:feeding frenzy;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">feeding frenzy<\/a> among the congregating sharks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/sharks-do-something-bizarre-when-turned-upside-down-and-we-dont-know-why\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Sharks Do Something Bizarre When Turned Upside Down, And We Don&#039;t Know Why;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Sharks Do Something Bizarre When Turned Upside Down, And We Don&#8217;t Know Why<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Witnesses heard him shouting: &#8216;Help\u2026they&#8217;re biting me&#8217; before he disappeared from sight as the water turned red and some dorsal and caudal fins appeared on the surface,&#8221; write marine biologists Eric Clua of Paris Science and Letters Research University and Kristian Parton of the University of Exeter in the UK <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/eth.70013\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:in a report of the incident;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">in a report of the incident<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The day after, searches at sea recovered human remains (in very small quantities) that allowed the forensic confirmation of the victim&#8217;s identity, but also led to the conclusion that he had been devoured by &#8216;several&#8217; sharks during this incident.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/planetsharkdivers.com\/what-is-a-dusky-shark\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Dusky sharks;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Dusky sharks<\/a> are known for their lack of aggression towards humans, making them a safe target for <a href=\"https:\/\/safeguardtheseas.org\/2023\/10\/19\/609\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:ecotourism activities;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">ecotourism activities<\/a> where people can feed and interact with a fascinating marine predator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hadera is a popular spot to see them; the nearby desalination plant pumps warm water into the area, attracting large numbers of dusky sharks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This frequent interaction with humans and the <a href=\"https:\/\/oceanservice.noaa.gov\/facts\/sharkseat.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:unnatural shark behaviors;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">unnatural shark behaviors<\/a> this interaction encourages, Clua and Parton believe, could be a major contributor to the fatal encounter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Artificial provisioning in the area has resulted in habituation with behaviors including begging, potentially resulting in a bold shark displaying a first reflex\/clumsiness bite targeting the camera held by the snorkeler, unintentionally wounding him,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/eth.70013\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:they write in their paper;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">they write in their paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The sound and olfactory stimuli have likely triggered a feeding frenzy, leading to multiple sharks engaging in predation bites. In this case study, extreme competition between individuals has probably overridden the non-instinctive prey nature of the human victim.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a data-ylk=\"ct:story;elm:img;itc:0;\" class=\"stretched-box\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/spark-into-space-comp\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"Win a $10,000 Space Coast Adventure Holiday\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"642\" height=\"272\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/aba9b57912b7b05c125c59b048ce1a26.jpeg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Win a $10,000 Space Coast Adventure Holiday<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.des.nh.gov\/news-and-media\/blog\/february-2024-ecotourism-and-how-it-can-change-way-you-vacation\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Ecotourism;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Ecotourism<\/a> can be highly beneficial to both local economies and ecosystems, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.marpol.2018.08.022\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:providing a disincentive;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">providing a disincentive<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/heres-why-the-worlds-first-eco-certified-shark-fishery-closed-down\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:shark fishing;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">shark fishing<\/a> and a motive to protect their habitats. The best path forward, the scientists say, would be to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/its-not-just-orcas-dolphins-are-spreading-behaviors-too-and-its-a-real-problem\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:ban the feeding of sharks;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">ban the feeding of sharks<\/a> in the region to eliminate begging behavior and maintain a healthier distance between the sharks and the humans who come to admire them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;The worst solution,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/eth.70013\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:they write;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">they write<\/a>, &#8220;would be to unselectively eliminate all sharks present in this area in the form of a cull, since the responsibility for this specific incident lies essentially with humans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The report has been published in <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/eth.70013\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Ethology;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Ethology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Related News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A species of shark never before documented killing humans has now done so, devouring a swimmer in a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[133480,138104,138106,138105,79,96393,201],"class_list":["post-254237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-feeding-frenzy","tag-hadera","tag-kristian-parton","tag-letters-research-university","tag-science","tag-species-of-shark","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}