Watch swimmer grab shark with his bare hands. It’s not what it seemed

A swimmer was filmed in a viral video over the weekend at a Delaware beach prying open the mouth of a shark with his bare hands.

He did it to remove a hook from the shark’s jaw.

The man was at Cape Henlopen State Park Beach and tried to unhook the shark after his friend caught it, Rachael Foster, who captured the viral video, told The Salisbury Daily Times. The man unhooked the shark and then it was let go.

“Everyone started yelling, ‘Shark, shark, get out of the water!’” Foster told the publication. “It was so crazy, like a movie. Like Jaws.”

The swimmer had professional training, according to FOX 5.

Sand tiger and sandbar sharks are protected in Delaware and can’t be caught and retained, according to Delaware’s Division of Fish and Wildlife.

“For anyone commenting how this guy should’ve left the shark alone, or that this isn’t right you really need to educate yourself,” Foster wrote in the video description. “He did this by the book and was totally legal with it! His buddy simply caught a shark he went out opened his mouth to get the hook out, than he went deeper into water turned the shark around and released it! Please please read up on the Delaware laws and the proper way to release a shark that’s been caught.”

The U.S. leads the world in reported shark attacks, with the Florida Museum of Natural History recording 41 provoked shark attacks in the U.S. in 2019, representing 64% of shark attacks worldwide.

The beach was temporarily closed earlier in June after a 12-year-old was possibly attacked by a shark while surfing at Herring Point, WPVI reported.

“While initially reported as a shark bite, the appearance of the bite mark is being reviewed by state and fisheries experts to determine if it was from a shark or potential other creature,” the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control told the publication.

This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 12:05 PM with the headline "Watch swimmer grab shark with his bare hands. It’s not what it seemed."