8-Year-Old Has Scary Encounter with Nurse Shark

Occurred on November 9, 2018 / Compass Cay, Bahamas

Info from Licensor: "While vacationing in the Bahamas with our family, my son was bitten by a nurse shark. The bite happened on an excursion at Compass Cay. Before swimming with the sharks, my son and our family were told that nurse sharks are docile and non-aggressive scavenger fish. If you wanted to pet them, to make sure you only touched the top of their heads and backs. We were told they may 'suck on you' and to keep the children's hands out of the water. My son entered the water with his sister and father, his mom stayed on the dock to film. About 30 seconds prior to the attack, I began to put my phone away so I could get in the water and join my family. As I turned my back to secure my phone, I heard my son scream. Not just any scream, the kind of scream that makes a mom’s world go into slow motion. At that same time, my son's father and sister saw the whole incident. For some reason, a 5-foot nurse shark swimming along the surface next to a smaller nurse shark decided to jump over the shark to it's right and bite down on to my son's upper back. His dad sprang into action. He lunged at the shark and grabbed it. Because the sharks were slippery, he knew he needed a good grip, so he grabbed onto the gills on the left and the right pectoral fin of the shark and pulled. The shark quickly released my son and swam away. My son was very lucky. The shark's upper jaw got him along the spine of his scapula. We believe this, along with his father quickly pulling the shark off him, prevented the shark from really latching on and the bite from going deeper. Or worse, the shark taking him under the water."