Those who dive frequently understand there are risks involved, from checking your equipment to the conditions of the weather and water when you dive. However, few perhaps would consider the risk that a tiger shark might steal your phone.
David Finch was diving at Tiger Beach off the west coast of Grand Bahama and was filming the sharks around a bait crate in the middle of the dive group. He noticed one of the tiger sharks, a female named Jitterbug, looking curiously at his phone.
“So I gave it to her to check out,” Finch told Storyful. “She doesn’t have hands so she used her mouth to inspect it, decided it’s not food, and spit it back out. I have done this a few times over the years.”
Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) get their name from the stripes that juveniles possess down their backs – however, once they mature the stripes start to fade and can almost disappear. These sharks are widespread in tropical and temperate waters across the world and typically grow to an impressive 3-4 meters (10-14 feet) and weigh around 386-635 kilograms (850-1,400 pounds). However, some large adults can reach around 6 meters (20 feet) and 861 kilograms (1,900 pounds). This makes tiger sharks the fourth largest shark species, and the second largest predatory shark species behind the great white.
In the video, Jitterbug mouths the phone – which is still recording – before biting it and spitting it back out. This gives us a clear shot inside her mouth and off her gills from the inside. Tiger sharks are known for being aggressive predators and having a varied diet – they’ve even tried echidna! They can consume just about anything, from sea turtles and sea snakes to other fish, seabirds, and even some marine mammals. There have even been cases of cannibalism where adult tiger sharks will consume juveniles.
Humans have harvested skin, fins, and livers from tiger shark populations. Their livers contain high levels of vitamin A which is used to produce vitamin oil. They are also frequently caught as bycatch by trawl fisheries and in relatively low numbers by tuna fishers. They are listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN.
