A swimmer off the coast of San Diego needed surgery after he was the victim of a shark attack on the morning of June 2.
The victim, who is 46 years old, was swimming off the beach in Del Mar right in front of lifeguard headquarters when the attack occurred. According to Jon Edelbrock, community services director and chief lifeguard for the city, the man was swimming with a group of experienced swimmers who frequently swim in the zone of the attack. The injuries sustained include bites to the victim’s torso, arm, and hand.
“He had obvious injuries from the incident that required surgery, mostly large lacerations,” Edelbrock said to CNN.
Luckily, the man was taken to shore by his friends, where lifeguards worked diligently on him until he was taken to a hospital.
Researchers from California State University Long Beach’s Shark Lab are in the process of looking at the wetsuit the victim was wearing in hopes of determining what kind of shark nit him. It’s assumed, for now at least, that it was a juvenile great white.
“What’s interesting is that we’ve been monitoring that site because it’s known as a juvenile aggregation site,” Shark Lab Director Chris Lowe told CNN. “We’ve tagged over 60 sharks there over the years and they’re detected routinely. We detected four today.”
Despite the relatively high number of sharks in that particular area, the number of bites are low. According to Lowe, there is a lower chance of being bitten at a site where juveniles aggregate than at one where they don’t.
“Sharks are known to avoid people, but every once in a while, they make mistakes,” Lowe explained. “It’s possible the shark involved this incident was literally just passing through and hadn’t had a chance to encounter people.”