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HORROR footage captures the moment a scuba diver was savagely attacked by a pregnant tiger shark in an aquarium, filling the tank with blood.
The graphic clip, filmed by staff at the the centre in South Africa, showed the beast biting and twisting the diver’s limp body around in the water after he tried to assist it.
The moment before the attack as the diver swims up to predator[/caption] The beast sinks it teeth into the diver and thrashes his body around like a rag doll[/caption] He was left with serious wounds to his arm and hand[/caption]The footage reveals the diver, who appeared to be a vet, swimming towards the sand tiger shark in an apparent attempt to tranquillise it with a syringe.
However, as soon as he gets close – the huge predator suddenly turns on the diver.
It sinks its sharp-toothed jaws onto his arm and thrashes his helpless body around in the water.
Gasping onlookers at the aquariums watched on in horror as the tank began to fill with blood as the two continued to tussle in the water.
The man eventually squirmed to safety and a team rushed to his aid.
An entire chunk appeared to be missing from the vet’s arm, which was spewing blood, and large teeth marks were visible on his hand.
As his wounds were dealt with, the diver slumped exhausted on the side of the tank surrounded by a pool of his own blood.
According to reports, the man has made a full recovery despite his serious injuries and has even been back inside the tank.
The video, taken back in 2016, has recently been going viral online once again in the wake of increasingly reported shark attacks, particularly in Brit holiday hotspots.
Sand tiger sharks are around across the world, usually in subtropical waters.
They are not known to be an aggressive species and the species have no known fatalities.
Due to their usually placid and lethargic nature, they are normally tolerance in captive environments and are the most widely kept shark in aquariums worldwide.
It comes as a popular tourist hotspot was placed on high alert for sharks this week after the beasts were seen swarming around its coastline.
Warning flags have been raised after an urgent jet ski patrol found sharks lurking just 200m from the shore off Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.
Meanwhile, The Sun recently told of a great white shark – dubbed Scarface for his battles wounds – that has been dubbed the toughest in the world thanks to his distinctive scars after years of underwater battles.
From mating bites to boat propellers, the predator’s big scars and bite marks sparked a speculation over what caused them – but an expert has now narrowed down on a different theory.
The diver was pulled to safety after surviving the vicious attack[/caption]What is a sand tiger shark?
SAND tiger sharks are also known as sand tigers and grey nurse sharks.
The big beat has one unique habit – they are the only sharks that come to the surface to gulp air, but not to breathe.
The air ends up in its stomach. The air makes the shark more buoyant, so it can float motionless in the water as it watches for prey.
They usually grow between 6.5ft and 10.5ft and can weigh between 200lb and 350lb and are found in subtropical and temperate waters across the world.
The sharks tend to hunt at night, just above the ocean floor.
They are not very aggressive towards people, and only tend to bother humans if they’re bothered by them first.