Dan
Contributor
It’s a natural reflex to protect its eyes when feeding, bumping or something coming close to its face. Just like us when something coming towards our eyes, we close our eye lids to protect our eyes.
Here is the Cocos Scarface that was identified as the one that had killed a diver. Notice its eyes were closed when it approached to the camera without being petted.
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Other examples of natural reflex of shark eye rolling when object gets close to their eyes