Catch-and-Release Shark Holds Man Underwater For Photo Before Releasing Him

Outer Banks, NC

Great White Shark Toothy McFins held local man Bobby Saltlife underwater for a brief selfie on Sunday before releasing him back onto the beach. 

"I'm a catch-and-release fisherman," Toothy McFins told us when we interviewed him from the side of the Beacon skiff on Monday. "That is to say, I fish for humans. And after I catch them, I take a photo with them and release them back to their natural environment." 

Toothy told us his catches are "mostly unharmed" when he releases them, though they often require some degree of medical attention. "The emotional scars, they're the real injuries," Toothy told us, chuckling to himself. 

For Toothy, the photographs of his catches are his prized possessions. "Here's one of my favorites. This guy from the Midwest came to the beach for the first time. Look at his face! Priceless. From what I understand, he hasn't come back since." 

Why doesn't Toothy keep his catches? "Frankly, the garbage that humans put in their bodies is appalling. For my long-term health, I prefer to maintain a diet of low-mercury fish."