The Dorsal Fin

An article in The Daily Mail suggests that a diver was nearly swallowed by a whale shark.

The UK’s Daily Mail posted an article today with the title “Open wide: The diver who nearly got swallowed by a whale shark.” While the headline itself seems a bit ridiculous in nature, the article does feature some nice shots of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) off of Isla Mujeres, which were taken by Mauricio Handler.

In the photo that is captioned with “Jaws: This diver almost got sucked into the mouth of a massive whale shark as it fed on plankton” uses perspective that might give the impression that the diver is about to be sucked up by the whale shark at first glance. However, as one of the Daily Mail readers already pointed out in the article’s comments section, the whale shark in the photo is actually closer to the camera than the diver, which exaggerates its size in relation to the diver. The diver appears to be behind (in relation to the camera) the whale shark and not in any harm’s way. The article also notes that if a whale shark were to swallow a human, it would have just spat him out.

According to the BBC, a staff member at Scotland’s Deep Sea World was bitten on the hand by an angel shark while diving in the aquarium’s main ocean display. The staff diver sustained 15-20 lacerations measuring approximately 1cm in the length from the bite. Angel sharks are bottom dwelling flat-body sharks that prey on fish and crustaceans and can measure up to 5′ (1.5m) in length. They generally are not considered dangerous to humans and do not feed on large prey items. However, they have been known to bite humans if threatened, provoked or accidentally stepped on. The aquarium staff diver was treated for his injuries and did not require hospitalization.

The video below from YouTube user kevincho48 documents an account of an angel shark biting a diver.

The media outlets that covered this story managed to keep things objective. I was pleasantly surprised to see that none of the "usual suspects" jumped on this story and turned it into something it wasn’t by making the angel shark out to be a man-eating monster. Perhaps, things are getting better for sharks in the media world.