Florida Fisherman Bitten by Shark While Posing for Photo

Photo: Wink News // YouTube

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It only takes a few seconds for a situation to go from triumphant to devastating. A Florida shark fisherman found that out the hard way, when he posed for a picture with a shark and received a nasty bite in the process.

Shawn Meuse was on a birthday fishing trip on Cayo Costa, an island near Boca Grande, Florida, when he caught a six-foot lemon shark. As he posed for a picture with the creature, it twisted and bit him just below the knee. “We just finished taking the hook out of his mouth. We were gonna go release him, and the shark just turned and bit me,” Meuse told Wink News.

Emergency crews responded around 10:55 p.m. Meuse was treated by EMS at the scene, then airlifted to Gulf Coast Medical Center, where doctors say he is expected to make a full recovery.

Lemon sharks are a protected species in Florida, and harvesting them is prohibited. Regulations state that protected shark species “must remain in the water with the gills submerged when fishing from shore or from a vessel, and prohibited shark species must be released without delay when fishing from the shore. If hook removal will delay release, cut the hook or the leader as close to the hook as possible.”