A SHARK expert has revealed the best way to survive an attack – but you’ll need to be brave.
Marine biologist Ryan Johnson said the worst thing to do when seeing those big pearly whites is to act like prey.
Marine biologist Ryan Johnson has revealed the best way to survive a shark attack[/caption]
“If you act like prey, they are possibly going to treat you like prey. Don’t panic, don’t thrash, don’t try to get away,” he said.
“You should hold your ground and 99.9% of the time you’ll have a wonderful time and then it’ll go on its way.”
Ryan says as more underwater predators filter into UK waters as temperatures continue to rise, swimmers will need to get ‘shark smart’.
He said: “It’s important everybody who goes into the water is educated about sharks.
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“Then when they start turning up in strange places, we know how to react.”
Meanwhile, Adventurer and TV star Bear Grylls spoke exclusively to The Sun to give his top tips on what to do if you come face-to-face with a shark.
“Most shark attacks are mistaken identity, or they think of something else. So if you see a shark make yourself visible, make yourself strong, make yourself not look like prey,” he said.
“As soon as you start panicking and start thrashing in that water and sending off prey-predator signals that you are food and you’re scared and you’re weak – that’s whether you’re facing wolves or sharks.
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“You know, the signal is a really dangerous signal. So if you’re with a shark in the water, bags of confidence, swim, you know strong, swing, swim, stable.
“If it’s coming for you, if it’s looking like it’s attacking, you go for it, dive towards, it be aggressive. Cause confusion in a shark’s mind. Yeah, they’re unlikely to attack – even Great Whites.”
Bear went on to confirm that sharks “don’t want to eat you,” but tend to confuse humans for prey.
“If they see you’re human, and you’re not scared, and you’re swimming with it, they leave you alone.”
WW2 sergeant Edgar Harrell told us he survived days in shark-infested waters off the Philippines by huddling together with his navy pals.
The late US vet was on the USS Indianapolis in 1945 when it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
Harrell was floating with a group of roughly 80 other men when dorsal fins started to cut through the waves around them.
The men clung to each other in a bid to intimidate the predators – but those weakened by injuries would lose their grip.
And once alone in the open, the sharks would close in.
Harrell says: “You would hear a blood-curdling scream and look and see someone going under.”
And as the victims’ blood spread in the water, sharks – which can smell blood up to three miles away – were attracted to the defenceless sailors, creating a feeding frenzy.
Harrell added: “When you get some 900 boys out there decaying in misery, sharks are gonna swim through there and they’re gonna attack what’s in their road.
“If I’m flopping around in their road, they’re going to take me under, and they only have to hit you once.
“All we heard was men being eaten alive. Every day, every night.”
