By ninemsn staff 9News World

Fascinating video has emerged of a scuba diver balancing a shark at a 90-degree angle on the palm of his hand during a dive in the Bahamas.

Tourist Graham Gibson, 31, filmed the other diver rub the reef shark’s nose until it went into a trance, essentially hypnotising it.

He then turned the shark to a vertical, face-down angle for several minutes.

The gentle nose rub, which is harmless to the animal, creates a state known as tonic immobility, according to aquarium vet Rob Jones.

“It’s been recognised in sharks for a long time,” Dr Jones told ninemsn.

“If you tried to do that with a normal fish it wouldn’t happen, but the same thing happens with lizards.”

Dr Jones uses a different style of tonic immobility as part of his work into artificial conception with seven gill sharks at Melbourne Aquarium.

“We generally take the shark and roll it on its back,” he said.

“In about ten seconds they settle down and they just lie there.

“We usually set a ceiling of ten minutes where we roll them over and wake them up.”

The technique is used by Dr Jones to carry out ultrasounds, as well as to collect blood and semen from sharks.

When they are finished the shark is flipped back onto its right side, and it regains control of its body.

Sea Life Sydney Aquarium aquarist Ben Brewer said while tonic immobility is well documented, there are only unconfirmed theories as to why it happens.

“During mating male sharks need to hold onto the female with their teeth, losing the ability to struggle is a great way to prevent excessive damage during this process,” he said.

“Some people suggest it may be defensive, however, I think losing consciousness when grabbed hold of by a predator would only be an advantage for the predator.”

Mr Brewer said he would never recommend interfering with wild or captive animals unnecessarily.

“Some scientists have used it to their advantage when working with sharks as we have here in the aquarium to minimise injury to the animals and humans when there is a need to handle the sharks,” he said.

“With that in mind it doesn’t always work and that is probably the reason this diver has very wisely donned a full stainless steel shark suit.”

Caribbean reef sharks are usually shy and indifferent, and only four unprovoked attacks have been documented, none of them fatal.

Author: Nick Pearson. Approving editor: Matthew Henry

Sources: Rob Jones, Ben Brewer

Pic: The ocean’s fearsome predator, the shark, seems to terrify and fascinate us in equal proportions.

For more on this story and to view the video and gallery go to:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2013/08/14/16/05/diver-hypnotises-shark-balances-it-on-hand