A water scooter rider has recalled the moment a shark bit and damaged his vehicle after he tried to get close to the animal and several others.
Rick Manning, who encountered the shark off the coast of North Stradbroke Island in Queensland, Australia, had spotted around five of the animals with a friend while flying a drone over the water.
Manning then decided to get closer to the group of sharks using a water scooter, and rode a few circles around one of the animals.
Then, one of the sharks attacked. Manning told Australian news outlet 7News on Monday he was able to see the animal's teeth. "That was the moment I knew I had stuffed up," he said.
Manning said the shark, reported to be a three-meter (10-foot) bull shark, "hit with a lot of force" and managed to pierce the Jet Ski's outer layer of fiberglass.
Bull sharks get their names partly due to their heavy builds but also because of a reputation for aggression, according to the Florida Museum.
Bull sharks can grow up to a length of around 11 feet and weigh several hundred pounds.
The museum's International Shark Attack File states that bull sharks are responsible for at least 100 unprovoked attacks on humans historically and that at least 25 have been fatal—though bites often go unreported.
It is referred to as one of the "big three" sharks in regards to shark attacks, along with the white and tiger sharks, because they are large, capable of serious injury, and commonly found in areas where humans go into water.
Manning was nearly knocked off by the shark but managed to escape uninjured. He told 7News he was left frightened but would return to the water, this time aiming to "keep a bit more distance between us."
It is not the first time that a shark has tried to take a chunk out of someone's equipment while they were out on the water.
Late in 2020, Hawaiian officials released images of a surfboard that had a huge bite mark, measuring around 17 inches wide.
The board belonged to a 56-year-old surfer who had been attacked by a shark near Honolua Bay. He sustained injuries to his leg and was rushed to the hospital where his condition was stabilized.
And earlier in 2021, one Australian surfer won the right to keep a shark tooth that had gotten lodged in his surfboard during an attack back in 2015 that cost him one of his legs.
The man was originally prohibited from keeping the tooth under conservation rules, but officials made an exception in his case.
