Swimmer Conan Maestrom describes hammerhead shark attacking shovelnose

A personal fitness coach has described the moment he watched a shark get bitten in half by a hammerhead while swimming at a beach on Fitzroy Island.

A personal fitness coach has described the terrifying moment he watched a shark get bitten in half by a hammerhead while swimming at a beach on Fitzroy Island.

Swimmer Conan Maestrom said he was following a sting ray but when he noticed it swim off quickly, he thought something was odd when the shark started swimming straight for him.

“About 1.5 metres under me comes this shovelnose shark and I just started freaking out,” Mr Maestrom said.

Mr Maestrom who has previously swum with sharks and taken part in shark feeding dives in Fiji, said the encounter was so unexpected he didn’t know what to do.

Swimmer Conan Maestrom has recounted the shocking moment a hammerhead shark attacked another shark in front of him while swimming in Port Douglas.

“But I didn’t have time to freak out when two seconds later an at least three metre hammerhead bites the shark in the middle of the body and starts rattling this shovelnose back and forth,” he said.

Mr Maestrom immediately took off his snorkel to yell shark, alerting nearby snorkellers to get out of the water before swimming back to shore.

“I got back to the shore, took my mask off and looked back to see the hammerhead coming out of the water. It’s huge fin was completely out of the water and I could see some of its body coming out a little bit. Then two seconds later it’s dead silence like it never happened.

“I expected to see blood or the carcass on the surface but there was nothing, I looked around to see if anyone else had seen it.”

Personal trainer Conan Maestrom posed with the remains of the shovelnose shark two hours after witnessing a hammerhead attack it in the water.

Two hours later, Mr Maestrom decided to go for a run along the beach when he saw the shark’s carcass.

“By this time the dive shop had been alerted so everyone was helping to carry the carcass away to dispose of at sea,” Mr Maestrom said.

Despite the shocking encounter, Mr Maestrom said he would continue to swim at the beach.

“I have since learnt that hammerheads are the least predatory towards humans, which would’ve been great information to know while I was in the water,” he said.

“This was a truly wonderful experience even though it was scary. A lot of things in nature can scare us but it’s important to understand that’s also what nature is and embrace it and be safe.”

Mr Maestrom said he did not believe in shark culling.

“The more knowledge we have, the more respect we can have for nature.”

Originally published as Swimmer Conan Maestrom describes hammerhead shark attacking shovelnose