What a mouthful!
A small nurse shark appeared to bite more than it could handle after sinking its teeth into a Florida beachgoer's arm.
The 23-year-old woman was transported to a Boca Raton hospital on Sunday with the 2-foot-long shark still clamped onto her arm, the Sun Sentinel reported.
Witnesses told the paper the woman might have been to blame for the attack. She was allegedly seen having been seen antagonizing the creature moments before.
"Nurse sharks are like the most humane things ever so, they wouldn't bite them unless they're messing with it,” Nate Pachter, who said he witnessed the incident, told the Sentinel.
The woman, who hasn’t been identified, was taken to Boca Raton Regional Hospital for treatment, the Boca Raton Ocean Rescue told the Palm Beach Post. The nurse shark died at the scene.
Nurse sharks typically aren’t aggressive and usually only bite humans when provoked, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
"If disturbed it may bite with a powerful vice-like grip capable of inflicting serious injury,” according to the museum’s website. In some instances, surgical instruments were needed to separate the shark from what it bit.
The sharks typically feed on crustaceans, mollusks and stingrays.
