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Crowds gather around 5-foot shark caught on Florida Beach

(ActionNewsJax.com)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A fisherman drew crowds on Atlantic Beach, Florida, on Saturday when he caught a 5-foot blacktip shark and dragged it onto the sand before releasing it back into the ocean.

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Videos taken on the beach show the fisherman dragging the shark by its fin onto the shore in front of a throng of curious beachgoers.

The man holds the shark's mouth open while he uses a pair of pliers to pull the hook out of its mouth. At one point, the shark thrashes and snaps its toothy jaws at the intrepid angler.

After a few tense moments, the fisherman appears to free the hook from the shark's mouth and returns it to the ocean, where it regains its senses and swims away from shore.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists blacktip sharks as not subject to overfishing, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regulations allow licensed anglers to keep up to one per day.