Shark Bites Man in 2 Feet of Water

A 60-year-old man’s afternoon on a Marco Island beach ended with a trip to the hospital Sunday.

The man was standing in 2 feet of water at Residents Beach when a shark swam up and bit him several times on the leg, NBC is reporting. While it is unclear just what kind of shark is responsible for the bites, it is estimated the creature was about 3 to 4 feet in length.

While Florida leads the nation in shark attacks, Sunday’s incident is a first in roughly a decade for Marco Island, the Naples Daily News reported. David Batiato, Marco Island Rescue Department’s division chief, said the man bitten Sunday suffered lower leg injuries, was treated at a local hospital and was released shortly thereafter.

“It happened so quick he didn’t even know what hit him and he just saw blood start pouring out, and that’s when his family helped him back onto shore,” first responder Sergio DeLeon told NBC.

See Also:

• Florida Leads Nation in Shark Attacks
• Huge Florida Shark Swarm Caught on Film
• Bobcat Dragging Shark Onto Beach Pic No Hoax, Experts Say
• Watch: Shark Swims Up to Man’s Backyard
• Great White Attacks Fishing Boat

Shark encounters are quite common in Florida. The state leads the nation in attacks with 28 bites on record in 2014 alone. East coast counties top the state in the number of attacks with Volusia County taking dubious first-place honors in 2014 with 10 documented bites. Brevard trailed with eight.

While the number of bites is up, researchers say there were no fatalities in 2014. The last shark-attributed fatality on record in Florida dates back to 2010.

Attacks in the Bay area are rare, but not unheard of. The International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History keeps records of unprovoked attacks in the state. Its database includes information for the years between 1882 and 2013. The number of attacks on record in Bay area counties between those years are as follows:

• Sarasota – 7 attacks, none fatal
• Manatee – 4 attacks, none fatal
• Pinellas – 12 attacks, two fatal
• Hillsborough – 0 attacks
• Pasco – 0 attacks

A number of shark sightings have made headlines in 2015 so far. In January, a great white shark attacked a fishing boat while an April encounter between a bobcat and a shark went viral. In the Bonita Springs area, residents have voiced concerns about bull sharks swimming too close to homes for comfort. One resident even created video showing a rather sizeable shark swimming right on the edge of his condominium complex’s sea wall.

To learn more about the sharks that call Florida’s waters home, visit the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission online.

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