A hungry shark was captured in heart-stopping footage sneaking up on a diver from behind, ready to devour its next meal.
Paul Dabill was spearfishing off the coast of Jupiter, Florida, when he successfully captured a snapper.
Unbeknownst to him, he shared the ocean with an ever-watchful shark, creating a nerve-wracking scenario where the diver found himself caught between the predator and its potential feast.
“I had just shot a snapper and was going to retrieve the fish,” said Paul, 48.
“I didn't realise it at the time but a shark was watching me, and as soon as I shot the fish it decided to go after it as well.
“He swam up from behind and underneath me so I didn't see the shark until it collided with me. It was very shocking to say the least!”
Mr Dabill, a restauranteur and photographer, is all too aware of the risk of spearfishing in Floridian waters.
He said: “Sharks are always around where we spearfish in south-east Florida. You always need to be aware of their presence.
“The riskiest time is when a fish is speared – that is when the sharks will go after it.
“Great care needs to be taken retrieving the fish and it should be removed from the water as fast as possible.
“As soon as we collided, I swam towards the surface and the shark swam in a different direction.”
Paul believes the shark that rammed him was a nurse shark.
“Generally they are not a dangerous species,” he said.
“However they have been known to steal fish from spearfishermen and divers collecting lobsters.
“If your hand gets in the way of the shark trying to eat something a bite could occur.”
Despite their docile reputation, nurse sharks were actually ranked fourth highest for documented shark attacks on humans by a 2016 paper.
When they do attack, they bite with powerful, vice-like jaws and are capable of inflicting serious injury.
In some cases, their jaws lock and victims can only be freed by surgical intervention, according to Florida Museum.
But they normally feed on smaller prey and rarely attack humans unprovoked.
The chilling video emerges as a young baseball athlete went missing after diving in shark-infested waters.
Cameron, 18, disappeared after being seen swimming in the dark near the uninhabited Athol Island, northeast of Nassau.
He disappeared into the night and the US Coast Guard later called off the search.
Cameron was on a graduation trip in the Bahamas, having recently graduated from University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana when the incident happened.
He and a classmate from his and other Baton Rouge schools were on the Blackbeard's Revenge sunset cruise when he jumped off the boat.
Cameron can be seen in a video drifting in the opposite direction to the buoy, before vanishing into the darkness.
