A man has survived a great white shark attack by poking the five-metre long carnivore in the eye.

The shark tore two chunks from Jason Cull's left leg as he swam off a beach on Australia's southwest coast.

The 37-year-old said: "Initially I thought it was a dolphin. I just remember being dragged along backwards. I was trying to feel its gills but I found its eye and I stuck my finger in and that's when it let go."

The shark ripped off half his calf and left him with deep lacerations to his knee and thigh. A local surf lifesaver heard Mr Cull screaming and raced into the surf to rescue him.

An Australian teenage surfer was killed in a shark attack in April. Sharks are protected in Australia and attacks on humans are relatively rare, despite the country's huge coastline.

Around 42 per cent of attacks involve surfers or windsurfers, according to the US-based International Shark Attack File.

Australia had 12 shark attacks in 2007, none of them fatal, among 71 shark attacks worldwide that year.

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