Fearless Florida diver pulls metal hook from shark's belly

— -- Talk about a fearless diver.

Josh Eccles, a diver with Emerald Charter in Jupiter, Florida, was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday when one of the lemon sharks passing by kept bumping into him.

"Every time it swam by me, it would bump into me a little more,” Eccles, who is in the water at least six times a week as part of his job with the scuba diving center, told ABC affiliate WPBF in West Palm Beach. "They always bump into us but they don't bump into us that frequently."

Eccles suspected something was amiss with the creature, so he took a closer look, which the shark didn't seem to mind.

"It would lift up its stomach and I noticed something, so I kind of poked at it a little, the little hook or something," he said.

Showing no fear, Eccles decided to alleviate the shark's discomfort and remove the hook, which was about the size of his hand.

After Eccles removed the hook, the shark swam away, only to return several times. At one point, the shark swam right up to a video camera, which Eccles believes was its way of saying "thank you."

"That was a crazy opportunity, experience to be a part of," Eccles said.