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CAUGHT IN THE MOUTH OF A SHARK

Jacques Cousteau, pioneer of underwater film-making, had some wise advice about sharks: never get complacent around them, because sooner or later they’ll need to feed. Yet I’ve watched seals chance their luck with massive Great Whites, mobbing them on the surface like crows chasing away a buzzard. Tuna too will swim up cheekily and rub their bodies against the sandpaper skin of the sharks to remove parasites. They can recognise when the killer fish are in the mood for hunting, and adjust their behaviour.

In 2005 I interviewed fisherman Rodney Orr, who survived an attack off California. ‘All I heard was a big crunch, like a garage door closing,’ he said. ‘My head was in its mouth, and I could see the teeth at an angle. The shark had me up out of the water, and the sea was flying by. Then all of a sudden it just let me go. It was very frightening.’

Rodney has a deep scar across his face but he claims that, as he gets older, it is being hidden by his wrinkles.

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