2 Florida Shark Attacks Reported on Sunday

The tail end of summer is considered the peak time for shark attacks in Florida.

Illustrating that point, authorities in two different North Florida towns responded to reports of shark attacks on Sunday. Both attacks resulted in injuries.

The first attack occurred at St. Augustine’s Vilano Beach Sunday morning. A 16-year-old boy was bitten on the hand after spotting bait fish near him in the water, News4Jax reported. He was in water that was waist-deep when he felt a tug on his arm. The 16-year-old is expected to recover, but will require surgery, the station reported.

The second attack happened around 12:30 p.m. in Fernandina Beach.

According to police, a 12-year-old Georgia boy was in the water at Beach Access No. 9 at Jasmine Street when he suffered “significant” injuries to his right leg. The boy, the police department said, was also in waist-deep water.

“The boy reported feeling the bite near his knee and then saw the shark and began punching it as it moved closer and bit him a second time,” Chief James T. Hurley wrote in a media release.

The boy’s parents said their son was walking toward them in 2 or 3 feet of water when he began screaming “shark.”

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Joshua Bitner of Sparks, Ga., the boy’s father, told police he saw a 4-foot shark with a black tip on its fin near his son.

Beach goers pulled the boy to safety.

The child, who has not been identified, was taken to UF Health in Jacksonville for treatment, authorities say.

August and September are considered the prime time for attacks simply because it’s during these months that large schools of fish tend to be on the move. As those schools of fish migrate, the sharks that eat them do, too, explained TCPalm. Since the bait fish that sharks eat happen to swim close to shore, the sharks follow suit.

While peak shark attack time is now, experts say the chances of being attacked are very low. The east coast traditionally has a much higher rate of attacks than the waters off Tampa Bay.

“Shark attacks in general are really a nonentity when we think of causes of mortality involved with humans,” George Burgess, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus, told Patch. “It’s a lot more dangerous driving to the beach.”

While Florida logs an estimated 20 “bites” a year and about one fatality every decade, Burgess explained that many of those bites are akin to dog bites in their severity.

The east coast, where Florida happens to experience the most shark attacks, is noted for having a lot of smaller shark species that share the water with swimmers, divers, surfers and others looking for outdoor fun. Blacktip and spinner sharks, for example, are commonly found in the “surf zone” and generally measure about 6 to 7 feet in length.

Burgess explains that most Florida shark attacks are “hit-and-runs” in that the sharks just take a quick grab and move on for more tasty prey.

Even so, fatalities are not unheard of. After all, larger species, such as bull and tiger sharks call Florida home year-round and great whites are known to visit the area, as well. Many of the larger sharks are found in the Gulf of Mexico where attacks are also known to occur.

To learn more about sharks in Florida, visit the museum online.