Shark attacks can be extremely scary; and in order to survive, people need to act quickly and find a way to get to shore or away from the water. A 77-year-old man was able to repel a shark attack by punching it in the face.
77-Year-Old Escapes Shark Attack
According to Newsweek, a grandfather was snorkeling around 160 feet off the shore when he was attacked by a shark. The 77-year-old was quick enough to act and punched the predator in the head to escape.
The man, Richard Stubbs, was swimming around Western Australia's Yallingup Lagoon when he was attacked by a wobbegong shark. What made this shark intimidating was that it was six feet long, which is above its average size.
The shark bit his leg but then the grandfather started punching its head. Finally, the shark let go and the man was able to escape to the shore with friends helping him swim.
Newsweek reports that Stubbs told the local news how something suddenly hit his leg hard and he didn't really know what to do. He then thanked his friends who helped him get out of the water.
The 77-year-old's right calf was left with a deep gash, but he was still lucky to have escaped.
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Wobbegong Sharks
The Australian Museum reports that the wobbegong sharks live in shallow coastal waters that aren't too far from the surface. Naturally, they swim around 100m deep and often lie on the sand or rocky bottoms.
These sharks, also known as the carpet shark or tassel shark, can only reach the maximum size of 3 meters, or close to 10 feet for specific species, like the spotted and banded wobbegong. However, the six-foot shark was still above its average size, which is usually at 4 feet.
Some of the noticeable traits of these sharks are their lobes, which look like whiskers and grow around their jaws. These lobes work as camouflage and a way for them to get a better sense of what's around them.
Risk of Wobbegong
Florida Museum categorizes the wobbegong as not being fatal when unprovoked scoring "0," far from the white shark which had a fatality rating of "59" despite being unprovoked. Following the white shark in terms of fatality when unprovoked was the tiger shark, which had a score of "39."
Most of the time, wobbegongs don't really pose a huge threat to humans, since they aren't as aggressive. However, there are still reports of them attacking humans, especially when they come too close.
Florida Museum's International Shark Attack File records the number of wobbegong attacks ever recorded. There were only 31 attacks; but none of them were considered fatal.
The attack on the 77-year-old came two days after another 20-year-old was bit on his leg by a wobbegong shark still in Western Australia but around Gnarabup Beach.
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