“Cuddly” probably isn’t the first word that comes to mind when describing a shark — unless you’re talking about this precious lemon shark! A woman on social media caught the cutest footage of one of these marine creatures at Cebu Ocean Park in the Philippines. She was watching a diver interact with the resident fish when she noticed that one animal seemed particularly attached to the person in the wetsuit. Her sweet video has received over six million views online!
Videos by InspireMore
In this woman’s clip, the snuggly lemon shark wouldn’t stop begging for the diver’s affection. Thankfully, this person seemed more than happy to “hold” the creature, gently wrapping their arms around the large fish. They even petted the aquatic animal as though they were a puppy! We’ve never seen a shark look so blissful.
Although the woman who posted the video didn’t specify, many people in the comments section believed the animal to be a lemon shark. One person referred to these critters as “the most adorable, clingy, non-harm shark species.”
Of course, there were a few dissenters who suggested that this friendly fish might be a different kind of shark. However, one user had the best guess of all.
“Everyone arguing about what type of shark it is when it’s obviously the goodest boy who needs scratches type of shark,” they wrote.
Why are they called lemon sharks?
As you can probably guess, lemon sharks aren’t actually citrus-flavored. According to Ocean Conservancy, these marine animals are named after their yellow coloring. In the wild, they tend to hang out in groups rather than swimming solo. They’re also one of the few shark species that actually thrive in captivity!
Most of the time, lemon sharks aren’t particularly hostile toward humans. However, that doesn’t mean you should try to give one of these creatures a hug like the diver in the video! Let’s leave that to the professionals.
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
Want to be happier in just 5 minutes a day? Sign up for Morning Smile and join over 455,000+ people who start each day with good news.
