Sharks Attack Underwater Camera and Swarm Divers in Australia
A group of Galapagos Whaler sharks attacked a camera in the Coral Sea, Australia, this week, with the incident captured on an underwater 360 camera.
Footage posted on Monday by Dean Cropp and Stephanie Lee shows one of the whale sharks suddenly darting toward the camera and lights, taking a nibble at them. Lee briefly flails before her diving partner Cropp intervenes and takes control of the camera.
Holding the camera steady, Cropp continues filming as multiple sharks circle them. He later explained in an Instagram post that the camera may have triggered the sharks’ interest.
“Steph was holding my camera when the little Galapagos Whalers took interest in the camera and the lights, the more she splashed trying to push them away the more they got excited and tried to get in between her and the camera,” Cropp writes on Instagram.
“These sharks actually think that she is a big predator and all the splashing means she has caught dinner and they want some,” Cropp continues. “Steph is okay and clung to my back like a Sea Otter until she caught her breath.”
Cropp reached for his diving partner’s hand to stabilize her while the sharks remained nearby. The video shows him keeping visual contact with the animals below as she holds onto him. At one point, the camera captures a shark swimming directly toward the lens, prompting a vocal reaction from the diver as several more sharks appear.
The encounter ended without incident as the sharks eventually dispersed. Cropp described the moment as “a crazy and exciting few seconds” and noted his friend held onto him “like a Sea Otter” until she recovered.
From the footage, Cropp estimated that five or six sharks showed interest in the camera during the incident.
Earlier this year, PetaPixel reported on an underwater videographer who accidentally dropped his Insta360 X4 camera into the ocean. He not only retrieved it, but when he went to check the camera he saw that he had captured footage of a humpback whale during a feeding frenzy.
