VIA – ST. AUGUSTINE
Shark bites surfer at Crescent Beach
Rare attack likely from 6-foot shark
Posted: August 31, 2011 – 10:20pm
By SHELDON GARDNER
[email protected]
Shane Lancaster, 19, of Keystone Heights, was surfing at Crescent Beach around 11 a.m. Wednesday when he felt something bump his leg.
It was a shark biting him.
When the surfer emerged from the water, his left leg was covered in blood, said David Macri, owner of Blue Sky Surf Shop. Macri was at the beach shooting photos for his company’s surf report when he saw the incident.
St. Johns County Marine Rescue officials bandaged and cleaned the minor cuts on the surfer’s lower leg, said Jeremy Robshaw, public information officer with St. Johns County Fire Rescue. It is not known whether he went to the hospital.
Sharks that bite humans usually mistake them for fish, said George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
“They grab it thinking they’ve got themselves their mullet dinner,” he said.
The surfer’s bite is one of only a few that generally happen in a year in the coastal area from Jacksonville to Daytona, he said.
“I would judge that it’s more severe than your average attack,” Burgess said.
Judging from pictures taken at the scene, Burgess said the shark was probably about 6 feet long. It was probably either a blacktip or spinner shark, because those are species most commonly associated with attacks in Florida. Other sharks that occasionally attack humans in Florida are bull sharks, tiger sharks, and lemon sharks.
The shark was probably attracted by the surfer’s movement in the water, which is “highly provocative to sharks,” he said.
Overall, though, the surfer’s injuries were minor, Robshaw said.
Lancaster was scheduled to stay overnight Wednesday at Flagler Hospital, he said in a telephone interview from his hospital bed.
He said the shark left 22 teeth marks on the bottom of his leg and 6 on the top, and he was waiting to get stitches.
For the full story go here:
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-08-31/shark-bites-surfer-crescent-beach#.Tl8NxI4S6uI
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