Around 100 people are bitten by sharks each year, across the seas, with fewer than 10 of those encounters proving fatal. A recent study suggests that a smaller number of these incidents may be caused not by predation or clumsiness, but by self-defence – a shark’s response to intentional or unintentional human provocation.
At the same time, recent media coverage has highlighted the role of influencers in encouraging unsafe interactions with sharks. Grabbing dorsal fins, stroking noses, and even riding massive tiger sharks, some social media users seem determined to turn these wild predators into underwater selfie props. While this kind of behaviour can indeed provoke defensive responses from sharks, there is no evidence of an overall increase in shark attacks.
The study in question, published in Frontiers in conservation, is the first to formally identify and quantify this self-defence behaviour in sharks, long suspected by marine experts, but never systematically documented.
Researchers reviewed 137 shark bites in French Polynesia over six decades with a more detailed analysis of 74 cases between 2009 and 2023. They found that in roughly 5% of the cases, the bites were not to compete for food access, in anticipation of threat, or territorial, but purely defensive. A conclusion consistent with global data, with one exception, Australia, where up to 49% of the attacks are classified as provoked (or people simply getting too close).
These self-defence bites are typically superficial, inflicted by medium-sized reef sharks such as the grey reef or sickling lemon shark, and were unaccompanied by warning signals. Triggers include spearfishing too close to the animals, scientific tagging, or attempts to free trapped sharks.
To reduce such incidents in the future, lead researcher Eric Lua urges reframing the classic ‘provoked/unprovoked’ dichotomy. ‘We need to ask what the shark is thinking when it bites,’ he told Le Monde. From the animal’s perspective, a speargun or an invasive hand may register as a threat and prompt an attack, not unlike that of a cornered cat or dog.
Our annual shark bite report for 2024 is now available online. There were only 47 unprovoked attacks, down 21 from the previous year and well below the 10-year average of 70.
— Florida Museum (@FloridaMuseum) February 11, 2025
📉 Full story and data: https://t.co/yTWdm0F4GL
Summary report: https://t.co/K18ueW2TLg pic.twitter.com/5QMBsXNdlr
While GenX grew up terrified of sharks thanks to Spielberg’s Jaws, they may also have unintentionally helped rehabilitate the sharks’ image. Will Smith famously face up to his fear swimming with ‘the enemy’, in 2020 when as Shark Week co-host confessing, ’I was literally scared in the bathtub. I literally felt like a shark could come out of the spout’.
One thing led to another, and sharks’ image began to soften culminating in the hit Baby shark, making them cute; while influencers made them approachable. Viral videos of celebrities like Zac Efron, Ocean Ramsey, Bella Thorne, swimming or caressing sharks without protection feed the myth that these animals are docile or safe to touch.
Reality is quite different, though, as marine biologist David Shiffman told The Times: ‘I can’t believe that “please don’t grab the 18 ft long wild predator” is something that needs to be explicitly said out loud, but here we are’.
repost from @coffincutiesmagazine I got this shot 🦈 #sharkweek #shark #selfie #iphone #waterworld
— Slash (@Slash) April 1, 2025
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The problem is not only physical danger but the distortion of public perception. As Clua notes, most people would not mistake a Yorkshire terrier for a pit bull. But few can distinguish between a harmless blacktip reef shark and an aggressive bull shark. That confusion can lead to reckless decisions with tragic consequences.
While influencers are not the primary cause of shark bites, the study points for a need for respect: sharks are wild animals. They bite when threatened, like any other.
So, if the goal is to share these oceans with these misunderstood predators, the advice is simple: don’t poke the fish. And if you happen to cross paths, or wave, with one, perhaps, just pack some cuttlefish. Just in case.
