A hero surfer was able to fight off a three-metre-long great white shark by punching it repeatedly in the eye.
Nick Minogue, 60, also told the shark to "f*** off" after it bit his arm and latched onto his surfboard.
The silver-haired surfer from Auckland, New Zealand, was on his board just off Pauanui Beach when the enormous animal appeared out of the water and bit his arm.
It then latched its huge teeth onto his surfboard during the terrifying attack at around 11.30am.
With quick thinking, he remembered hearing that sharks can be repelled by being punched in the nose or eye.
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"By the time I realised what was going on its teeth were definitely latched onto the front section of the board," he told the New Zealand Herald.
"I actually shouted at it 'f*** off!' and went to punch it in the eye and missed.
"Then I pulled my fist back and shouted 'f*** off!' again and got it right smack bang in the eye.
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"It's quite a big eye, about three knuckles across, and its eye kind of looked up and rolled up.
"In between the two punches, it crunched down a bit more on the board and then disengaged its teeth, got its jaws off and then I got brushed by the dorsal fin and the tail fin and swam off."
Nick said only he and a German surfer about 50m away were in the water at the time when the shark attacked.
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When he got back to shore, he discovered blood was dripping out of the sleeve of his wetsuit.
He believes his full-length wetsuit saved him from more serious injuries.
"I've still got an arm and fingers, it could have been a lot worse."
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In fact, the foolhardy surfer is planning on going back into the water next week at Dunedin.
But he did admit that he would have to get another board.
Clinton Duffy, a marine scientist with New Zealand's Department of Conservation, said: "The photograph of the bite to the board is consistent with a fairly small white shark, AKA a white pointer, great white."
- Great White Shark
- Sharks
- Animals
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