JUPITER (WSVN) — A diver came to the rescue when a shark approached him in need of help.
Lemon sharks swimming near divers off Jupiter’s coast is very common. “Every time it swam by me, it would bump into me a little bit more,” said Josh Eccles. “They always bump into us, but they don’t bump into us that frequently.”
Due to how often the shark would bump into him, Eccles knew something was wrong. He wanted a closer look and the shark was happy to let him look.
“It would lift up its stomach and I noticed something, so I kind of poked at it a little — the little hook or something,”
But the hook wasn’t so little — the second time Eccles works at it, he’s able to pull out the hook. He showed it to us — it’s about the size of his hand.
“Yeah, that’s a really big hook,” Eccles said. “This was all the way imbedded into the shark. All I could see was this part right here.”
Eccles said once he pulled out the hook, he could see the area was infected. However, the shark quickly swam away but didn’t go far. The shark stuck around, even swimming directly up to the camera.
“That was a crazy opportunity — experience — to be a part of. It was nice,” Eccles said.
The divers say they believe they saved that shark’s life.
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