NOTE 
A Noninjurious Attack by a Small Shark 1 
David P. Fellows and 
Aside from the general need for thorough 
documentation of shark incidents (Hobson, 
et al., 1961:605), the following shark attack 
is worthy of report for two reasons: (1) The 
shark was of small size. (2) Immediately 
prior to attack the shark displayed a behavior 
pattern which is mentioned only briefly in the 
literature. 
Description of the Incident 
The shark, a 3-ft Carcharhinus menisorrah, 
was encountered while the authors were baiting 
eel traps with freshly speared fish in a large 
pothole in the lagoon reef at Johnston Island. 
At the time (1400 hours, 19 December 1965), 
water temperature was 26° C and underwater 
visibility more than 100 ft. The weather was 
cloudy with intermittent rain, a strong wind was 
blowing, and the surface of the sea was choppy. 
Both divers were wearing dark trunks and black 
neoprene wetsuit jackets. 
The attack occurred during an attempt to 
take the shark by spear for research purposes. 
Armed with a "Hawaiian sling,” Fellows closed 
to within 7-8 ft of the shark and then began 
to follow the shark as it swam slowly in a path 
roughly describing a circle about 50 ft in 
diameter. During the first lap of the chase, the 
shark swam in an unexcited manner approxi- 
mately 5 ft above the bottom of the pothole 
(which was about 15-25 ft deep). Immediately 
after beginning the second lap, the shark com- 
menced a radically different swimming behavior ; 
the tailbeat frequency decreased noticeably and 
the shark simultaneously began to swing the 
entire anterior portion of the body slowly from 
1 Contribution No. 257, Hawaii Institute of Marine 
Biology, University of Hawaii. Manuscript received 
February 14, 1966. 
2 Department of Zoology, University of Hawaii, 
Honolulu. 
A. Earl Murchison 2 
side to side in a greatly exaggerated swimming | 
motion. The headswinging was sufficient to 
bring the entire head profile into view by 
Fellows, who at this time was directly behind 
and about 5 ft away from the shark. This be- 
havior was continued for slightly less than half 
a lap, at which time Fellows surfaced for air. 
When Fellows surfaced, the shark, swimming 
over a coral mound, rose to within approxi- 
mately 6 ft of the surface, passed directly below 
Murchison, and descended back to within 5 ft 
of the bottom. As the shark approached 
Murchison during its ascent, the exaggerated 
swimming motion stopped. Immediately after 
passing under Murchison the shark began to 
swim more rapidly, resumed the exaggerated 
manner of swimming, and, when 25 ft away, 
turned and made a very rapid dash directed at 
Fellows’s arm. During the approach the shark’s 
mouth was open approximately 1 inch. Fellows 
twisted violently aside, and the shark missed 
his arm and passed between his legs. When 
five ft behind Fellows, the shark turned and 
made a second high-speed pass. On this pass 
the diver’s swim fin made solid contact with the 
shark, but whether contact was due to Fellows’s 
thrashing or to directed attack by the shark is 
uncertain. Either way, contact was sufficient to 
discourage the shark, which rapidly departed 
from the area. During the two passes the divers 
were about 7 ft apart. 
Discussion 
Although the total time of the encounter with 
the shark occupied less than 3 minutes, and the 
duration of the actual attack less than 10 sec- 
onds, both observers readily noted four items: 
(1) At the beginning of the chase the shark 
showed no overt response to the divers’ pres- 
ence. (2) The headswinging behavior began 
only after the pursuer got within what appeared 
150 
