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A black cat was recently decapitated by a 19 - pes - long ( 5.8 meters)great white sharkwhile diving event for ax tripe , a escallop - similar mollusk in Mexico . The tragic event made headlines because of the strange nature of the attack .
Manuel Nieblas López , who was in his 50 , was attacked Jan. 5 in Tobari Bay along the Gulf of California off Mexico . At the time of the attack , López was compile the mollusc at a depth of between 36 and 59 feet ( 11 and 18 m ) using a surface - supplied atmosphere source — a scuba - like apparatus that relate the underwater diver to a compressed air reference on a gravy holder through a serial publication of pipe , grant toTrackingsharks.com , a website that records all globose shark attack . Two other fishermen , who were on a financial backing boat when the attack go on , witnessed the shark " imposingly ripping off his psyche and biting both shoulders , " aver Jose Bernal , who spoke for the surviving fishers , concord to Trackingsharks.com .
It is extremely rare for a great white shark to bite people around the head and shoulders.
Sharks seldom sting people . When they do , they typically grab the wooden leg or torso after err the individual for target , such as a seal , then release the dupe after realizing the error . But a shark prick a person ’s pass or articulatio humeri is extremely rarified , expert told Live Science .
This type of fire is so rarefied thatGreg Skomal , a nautical life scientist at the University of Boston and straits of the shark course of study at Massachusetts Marine Fisheries , has never heard of it hap . " As uncommon as shark pungency on man can be , beheading is even more rare , " addedChris Lowe , the director of the Shark Lab at California State University , Long Beach .
So what could have caused this strange case of attack ?
Experts believe that the shark likely mistook the diver for a seal or similar prey animal.
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As with almost all shark attacks , " false identity " is probable the main grounds why the shark attacked López , the experts said .
" If sharks are excited and hungry , they make rash decisions and burn what — in the heat of the moment — they study a potential prey item , " saidGavin Naylor , a marine biologist at the University of Florida who runs the International Shark Attack Files ( ISAF ) at the Florida Museum of Natural History . " call up that predators have to think quickly , " he added , and if they waver it " can give them athirst . "
An up close look at a great white from the safety of a shark cage.
shark do n’t have dandy visual sense , which makes it knockout for themto distinguish between prey and humans . Because of this , around 60 % of shark attacks recorded by the ISAF occurred in mirky amnionic fluid with reduced visibility , Naylor enunciate . ( There is no mention of the water quality in any report of the most recent attack , so it is not possible to bang for sure if this played a purpose . )
The Sunreported that López may have avoided the attack if he had been wear a brightly colored wetsuit to help him stand out from Navy SEAL , which had been advise by local authorities . But the expert are unconvinced by these claims .
" It is a difficult supposition to test , " Skomal said . " Since most wetsuits are dim or in darkness colored there is no way to recite statistically whether there is a course there or not , " Lowe tot .
However , the diver ’s fishing activity likely played a role in lead astray the shark into thinking he was a prey animal , the experts said .
The smell of the shellfish concentrated around the diver " could have entice the shark to the area , " Lowe said . " Any time someone is fish — whether for fishes or invertebrates like scollop or lobster — shark are drawn to the odor in the water supply and the palpitation of struggle creature , " Naylor added .
" It is also potential that [ due to his place on the seafloor ] he resemble a sea lion foraging , " Skomal enounce .
Fishers like López had been discourage to head off fishing in the expanse due to an increase in shark body process during December and January , when fraught distaff shark enter the surface area , Newsweekreported . In December 218 , another pekan was killed after being attack by agreat white sharkshortly after jump in the water , according to Trackingsharks.com .
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López ’s position on the seafloor may excuse why the shark attacked his head and shoulders .
" It was the most approachable part of the individual ’s form , " Naylor suppose . Most scallopers essentially " walk along the bottom " so the shark could not have go up the victim from underneath and come on from the side would have in all likelihood leave the shark open to a potential countermove from its fair game , he added . Lowe agreed that " the person ’s preference in the piddle relative to that of the shark " plays a primal use in where they are bitten .
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It is also possible that the shark advisedly went for the fountainhead " to cursorily invalid the perceive prey , " which has been suggest by some shark flack on seals , Skomal said .
However , it is hard to say what happened in this compositor’s case with any foregone conclusion .
" In most cases , we just do n’t fuck " why a shark attack someone , Lowe said . " As you could envisage , it is very difficult to recognise the motive of the shark without elaborated information of the situation prior to the bite . "
