Poppy Bilderbeck
Warning: graphic images
A fisherman has spoken out after hooking a huge shark only to make a horrifying discovery. Prepare for something fishy to swim into your nightmares tonight:
Sharks are terrifying enough already, let alone when they have a big old bite mark in them which implies there's something larger, scarier and even more dangerous than them lurking in the murky depths of the sea.
Dave Perkins was fishing off the coast in the south Florida near Everglades National Park with two customers when he spotted a Blacktip shark - which on average, grows to about 5.5ft (1.7 m) long and 55lbs (25 kg) according to Oceana.
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The shark didn't faze Perkins, who's caught and released 'nearly 1,000 sharks' in his lifetime, however, the fisherman didn't quite anticipate what he would see next.
After hooking the shark, Dave suddenly felt the creature 'jerk' and 'writhe violently'.
He told Pen News: "I assumed that the shark was just angry at being manhandled."
Much to Dave's horror, once he pulled the shark in closer, he soon realised the animal had been bitten almost completely in half, and had been left with a gaping wound with blood gushing out of it.
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The fisherman admitted he 'felt intimated' as soon as he saw the bite mark and became 'nervous' that whatever attacked the shark would continue its attempted feeding while he was 'holding the wire leader'.
Dave subsequently decided to cut the line to avoid the risk of himself or his two guests being put in danger and also to try and safe the Blacktip.
But what could the Blacktip shark's predator have been?
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Dave is convinced the Blacktip was attacked by a Bull shark, having spotted a 10-foot shark circling the boat soon after the ordeal.
"They are common in our waters and by far the most vicious and aggressive sharks on earth," he explains. "They are often found in murky waters and will eat just about anything."
Male bull sharks 'grow to about seven feet (2.1 m) in length, and females grow to 11ft (3.3m) or more'.
"Adults usually weigh between 200 and 500lbs (91 to 227 kg)," the National Wildlife Federation states.
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In quickly releasing the Blacktip shark, Dave hopes it managed to swim off to safety and survive the horrifying ordeal.
The fisherman notes: "It wasn’t bitten in its vitals and I’ve seen sharks with horrible scars on them in different stages of healing.
"I knew it would have zero chance of surviving if it got bitten again while I was trying to wrangle the hook out of its mouth.
"I felt awful for the shark that was bitten. I love sharks, I hate to see them hurt."