Kiwi diver lucky to have his leg after shark bite in Fiji

New Zealand ocean enthusiast Henry Gibbs was on his first spearfishing dive in Fiji when a shark latched on to his calf and started 'death rolling'.

A New Zealand spearfisher says he's lucky to have his leg after a shark latched onto it and began "death rolling" in Fiji.

Henry Gibbs, a diver and content creator, posted a video of the beginning of the attack to his Instagram page warning others not to judge a shark by its size.

Alongside a photo of himself in a hospital bed, Gibbs said: "First dive in Fiji ended in a pretty nasty shark incident. Feeling incredibly lucky to still have my leg, full use of my foot and be on the mend."

The self-described ocean enthusiast said he'd been diving the reef for a couple of hours with a speargun before heading into deeper water in search of something bigger.

He said a few grey reef sharks had been hanging around, with one staying longer than the others.

"I'll never know exactly what caused the change, but eventually it started making tight semicircles beneath us, became increasingly agitated and even sprinted at the boat."

Gibbs said looking back, that should've been a sign to end the dive.

"I never thought a shark of that size posed much of a threat, and that was a mistake."

He said sharks in New Zealand were generally less aggressive and he made an error by expecting sharks in Fiji to behave the same.

"I knew it was coming for me, which is why you can hear me starting to make a fuss before it even gets to me. It sidesteps the speargun, peels underneath me, latches onto the back of my calf and starts death rolling."

Gibbs said he was weighing up whether to post the rest of the footage as "it becomes very graphic" but thought it was important to share the lessons he'd learned, such as; don't ignore a shark that becomes agitated, erratic or increasingly aggressive, if its behaviour changes - move on, wear plain black wetsuits, and "don't judge the risk by the shark's size".

He said there were no hard feelings toward the shark and put it down to "wrong place, wrong time".

"I was in its environment, hunting its food."

Gibbs said after four surgeries and a skin graft it looked like he'd make a full recovery and thanked all the hospital staff who had cared for him, friends and family.

"For now, just feeling very lucky and with an even greater appreciation for life."