A marine biologist with decades of experience working in the field with sharks was attacked, last Saturday, during an expedition off the coast of Costa Rica.
Dr. Mauricio Hoyos, 48, who hails from Mexico, was tagging sharks near Cocos Island, around 340 miles off the southwest of Costa Rica. He tagged one shark – the species hasn’t been clarified, although it’s suspected to be a 13-feet-long Galapagos shark – and then it turned on him, and literally swallowed his entire head whole in its jaws.
Miraculously, the shark released Dr. Hoyos. And despite the 27 teeth mark lacerations to his face and skull, he was treated at the hospital in stable condition.
Speaking to the New York Times, Dr. Hoyos said:
“She turned sideways in my direction; it was really fast. It was wide open; my whole head was inside of her mouth in less than a second. I saw the shadow twice in front of me. If she wanted, she could have killed me. To be honest it was like in slow motion. But my mind was very calm. I was thinking the whole time about what to do.”
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After the attack, Dr. Hoyos was blinded by a cloud of his own blood. He was diving 123 feet deep when his head was gobbled by the Galapagos, and his scuba equipment was damaged irreparably. Luckily, he was still able to surface.
“Incidents like this are extremely rare,” said Alex Antoniou, executive director of Fins Attached, a marine research and conservation organization, on social media. “Dr. Hoyos is an extraordinary scientist who has dedicated his career to shark conservation, and we are deeply grateful for the support of the Cocos Island community in this very difficult time.”
Hoyos will need treatment for the 27 puncture wounds from each individual shark tooth, in addition to jaw surgery. However, he doesn’t blame the shark.
“She was scared, too,” he said.