New bride bitten by shark she thought was her husband (VIDEO)

A newlywed couple were enjoying a dream honeymoon in the Caribbean when an uncharacteristically aggressive nurse shark lunged at the bride as her husband looked on in utter shock.

Sarah Illig, from Charleston, South Carolina posted footage of the incident, filmed by her partner Evan Carroll, to Instagram on Monday. Sarah initially assumed it was her husband joking around.

"Mid snorkeling with the sharks I felt a whoosh of water, something clamped down on my arm and I assumed my husband was playing a prank on me," Illig said, as cited by The Daily Mail.

“This is a 5ft nurse shark that typically never bite unless provoked via tail pulling, feeding,” Illig explained. “There was no tail pulling or feeding during my snorkel with them, as you can clearly see via video.”

“If we were home we would have gotten some stitches but it worked out not getting them!," Illig added. "Only had a bunch of flesh wounds along my arm. We were worried about staph or another infection but it's healing great!"

Nurse sharks are described as "slow-moving" and "for the most part, harmless to humans," according to National Geographic. The sharks do pack quite a bite, however, as their mouths bristle with thousands of tiny serrated teeth.