The Dorsal Fin

Kids, don’t try this at home (or while vacationing in Mexico)…

National Geographic recently posted the video above to their YouTube channel which features cameraman Nick Caloyianis being charged and bitten by a bull shark, after researchers attempted to attach one of National Geographic’s Crittercams to the animal. Upon being stuck with a barb, the bull shark escaped the Crittercam crew and began to swim away, when a fisherman attempted to hook it in the mouth. The shark appears to have previously sustained some serious injuries to the side of its jaw (there appear to be two hooks visible in the shark’s flesh in one of the close-up shots) that the fisherman was attempting to hook. Upon being hooked, the shark turned around and swam toward Caloyianis, biting his leg and eventually his hand. Fortunately, Caloyianis made a full-recovery from his injuries.

It seems like National Geographic is attempting to play up the “attack” aspect of this 18-year-old event with their recently released video, which is a promotional piece for Explorer 25 Years. Scenes of massive amounts of blood in the water, along with an apparent underwater struggle have been edited into the footage to add even more sensationalism to the attack on Caloyianis. Both of these sequences are clearly not from Caloyianis’ original footage and the “blood in the water” shot doesn’t even appear to be from the same locale.

The shark involved in the incident was successfully “tagged” with a Crittercam after Caloyianis was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, it seems that both humans and sharks were on the losing end of this particular Crittercam endeavor, at least on some level. Caloyianis’ well-being was put at serious risk with an already injured bull shark being riled up by invasive research methods.

An alternate take on the same story was also featured on NG’s Wild Chronicles, which did not feature the added blood in the water scenes and apparent underwater struggle.