Katarina Zarutskie, 19-year-old nursing student at University of Miami and Instagram model from Laguna Beach, California, swam with nurse sharks in the ocean off the Bahamas' Staniel Cay last month.  Floating one minute and then yanked under water by a 5-foot shark the next.

"He had my wrist in his mouth and I could feel his teeth sinking into my arm," Zarutskie told NBC News on Monday. "I was pulled underwater for a few seconds and then ripped my wrist out of the shark’s mouth as fast as I could."

When she got free of the shark's bite, she swam to some steps — holding her bleeding arm out of the water to not tempt more sharks — and got out of the ocean.
(via "Shark attacks California Instagram model in Bahamas")

"My boyfriend’s family was freaking out when I went to swim with the sharks and I was like, 'it’s fine,'" she said.

 

"These animals are considered quite docile but can and do bite on occasion," Hocher wrote in an email. "Normally when they mistake a hand or fingers for a piece of food."

Hocher sent NBC News a picture of a sign at the marina that warns guests that nurse sharks "can and do bite" and that visitors must "swim with the sharks at your own risk" — but Zarutskie said she did not see the sign.