Human Interactions
While any large shark is capable of inflicting injury and thus merits respect, the common thresher poses little danger to humans. Most divers report that they are shy and difficult to approach underwater. The International Shark Attack File lists a single provoked attack by the thresher shark and four attacks on boats, which were probably incidental from individuals fighting capture. There is an unsubstantiated report of a common thresher acting aggressively towards a spearfisherman off New Zealand.
Famed big-game angler Frank Mundus, in his book Sportsfishing for Sharks, recounted a tale in which a longline fisherman off the Carolinas leaned over the side of his boat to examine something large that he had hooked, and was decapitated by the caudal fin of a thresher shark estimated to be 5 m (16 ft) long. The head supposedly fell into the water and was never recovered. This account is considered highly improbable by most authors.
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