Do Not Mess With Fish 266,

and you though fish were fun!

well these ones are not, especially if you get bitten by one, meet the cookiecutter shark, (Isistius brasiliensis), although not big, males mature at a length of 1 to 1.2 ft [31 to 37 cm], while females mature at 1.2 to 1.4 ft [38 to 44 cm], and grow just slightly more to full size, small for a shark they make up for that with the sneaky way they feed, its thick lips and modified pharynx are used to attach itself to the prey, then razor-sharp lower teeth bite into the skin and twisting movements cut out a plug of flesh, once cut out, the shark pulls free, holding the plug of tissue by its hook-like upper teeth and leaving behind a crater wound, photographs : NOAA/Public Domain,

and their prey? fish, whales, sharks, nuclear submarines and us! as far as attacking nuclear submarines, they can sometimes causing serious damage, according to Elasmo-Research, back in the 1970s attacks by cookie-cutter sharks on the softer parts of submarines, like exposed cables and rubber sonar domes, sometimes blinded the watercrafts to the point where they needed to return to base for repairs, the small sharks were part of the reason why softer nuclear submarine parts were fitted with fiberglass coverings, thus solving the problem. It was reported that in some severe cases, the bite of the cookie-cutter was so severe that it caused the oil inside the sonar equipment to leak out, rendering it useless, although we are not specifically hunted we can still fall prey to the shark, people who venture out in deep waters at night are fair game, in 2009, a man who was attempting the 30-mile swim between Hawaii and Maui at night had a chunk of flesh bit out of his chest by a cookie-cutter shark, and in 2019, two swimmer taking part in the Oceans Seven challenge suffered large lacerations to their stomach, legs or shoulders, a chilling thought the next time you do out for a tropical midnight swim!