Spearfisherman attacked

John Pengelly, 19, a spearfishing champion, was freediving with two friends at Lamont Reef, east of Gladstone in Queensland.

He had just shot a mangrove jackfish and surfaced with the catch.

A bull shark, judged by one of his friends to have been about 2.5m long, took him by an arm before letting go.

The threesome managed to regain their boat where Pengelly's wounds, including damaged artery and tendons, were bound with shirts.

Back ashore, he was transferred for surgery at the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

"If he wanted to eat me he would have," Pengelly told press. "It was just an enquiry bite."

Spearfishermen are known to be at most risk of shark attack when they have shot fish. A combination of death quivers and blood are thought to draw the sharks in.