Diver films as shark tries to eat camera

A scuba diver who was attacked by a shark while swimming off the coast off Maine in the United States used his video camera to fend off the predator.



Scott MacNichol, 30, was uninjured after a porbeagle shark apparently mistook his camera equipment for food while he was diving near the coastal town of Eastport. He estimated the shark was eight feet long and weighed about 21 stone.

Mr MacNichol saw the shark swimming above him while he was filming the ocean floor under empty salmon pens as part of an environmental assessment. The animal then came at him, jabbing at the camera with its snout. In the video, its sharp teeth fill the frame before it swims off.



"He took a couple of bites at the camera. When he did that I was pretty much petrified," Mr MacNichol said. "If you watch the video,
you can hear me screaming underwater." Porbeagles are cold water sharks that have a similar body shape and tail to mako and great white sharks. Their diet is primarily herring, mackerel and other bony fish.