The 40-year-old male tourist was swimming and filming in the sea at Olga Beach in Hadera on April 21. He was swimming and filming about 100 meters from shore in Hadera, off the coast of Israel. A shiver of dusky sharks appeared, leading to an unexpected accident that shocked scientists. Scientists believe that a shark species called the Dusky Shark never attacks human beings. There had been no registered case of this shark attacking humans — but what just happened changed everything.
This became the first registered case of a Dusky Shark attack in Israel, which left scientists and ethologists in shock. We all know that sharks have been living in the ocean for a long time, and we cannot properly calculate how long they have existed on Earth. The team of scientists constantly monitors these sharks to study their behavior and evolution. But in the case of the Dusky Shark, there had never been any news of it attacking a human.
However, on April 21 in Israel, the first case of a Dusky Shark attack was reported. According to witnesses at the Israeli beach area, a 40-year-old man was swimming around 100 meters away from the coast while filming. Suddenly, he started screaming “Help! Help! Help!” According to footage and witness reports, a huge Dusky Shark was swimming around the man. Soon, the man disappeared before the rescue team arrived.
the shark lunged at the man’s GoPro camera. Unfortunately, rescuers couldn’t find the man after his disappearance. The next day, the rescue operation resumed, but they still couldn’t find him. Only small human remains were recovered. To identify the missing person, DNA samples were collected, confirming that the remains belonged to the same man who went missing a day earlier.
This was the first recorded incident of a Dusky Shark attacking a human. The Dusky Shark is known as a shy species that generally avoids humans and grows up to around 10 feet long. According to witnesses and reports published by ethologists, the Dusky Shark has never before been seen attacking humans. They have been monitoring this species for a long time, and such an event shocked scientists deeply.
Scientists are now studying what triggered this rare behavior. Why did a shark species that has never attacked a human suddenly do so? To understand this, researchers studied the location and found that, in this coastal area, Dusky Sharks usually appear due to warm water — especially in winter. In this region, food waste is sometimes dumped by humans or boats, attracting sharks. Over time, the sharks developed a habit of visiting the area in search of food.
According to scientists and ethologists, this human behavior may have caused food competition among sharks. That day, the Dusky Sharks might have mistaken the swimmer for food due to their increased aggression over feeding. Witnesses stated that the man screamed, saying they are biting him.
The ethologists and scientists are still studying this incident, which happened over five months ago, to understand it better. The current conclusion is that human involvement in feeding sharks has changed their natural behavior. Due to this, feeding or throwing food into coastal waters is now strictly prohibited.
Scientists have termed this unnatural feeding response as “begging behavior.” Whenever someone throws meat or food into the water, multiple sharks appear and fight over it, leading to aggressive behavior. This might explain why multiple sharks attacked the tourist, resulting in his tragic death.
This kind of incident should never happen again. As human beings, we must not interfere with the natural food chain of marine life. Such interference disrupts their behavior and can imbalance nature’s delicate ecological system.
