Shark Attack!

[RobertJ.]

Yesterday afternoon we had a shark attack right here in Seaside. At the cove, at the south end of town, a surfer got his leg bitten, and thankfully there were plenty of people to come to his aid. This happens every once in a while, the most well-known was probably Kenny Doudt back in 1979. He was attacked by a Great White, and required hundreds of stitches. I didn't know him but two friends of mine were surfing with him that day.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy06K5kLr4Y[/ame]

 

[ancient-one]

I am glad that he was not killed. He was lucky. Sharks live in the ocean and I live on land and it has mostly stayed that way. I never was comfortable swimming in the ocean, too many big things live there.

 

[A10]

Any idea what brand o' shark it was? My honey and I were down at Tillamook a few weeks back, stopped in Seaside for a stroll....

 

[PatriotX]

Surfing Ponce Inlet as a youth would entail near-daily blacktop shark sightings in the appropriately named Shark Shallows, and huuuuuuge hammerheads right in the inlet feeding on tarpon.

None of those, nor the nurse sharks, lemon sharks, bonnetheads, sand sharks, etc. would raise the blood pressure much.

The Bull sharks are the ones to watch out for in Florida. They are unpredictable, and will bite to bite. If I had to call one ocean-dwelling creature a jerk, it would be a Bull shark.

 

[Golphin]

We get a lot of leg and arm bites here in Florida because of so many miles of coast line. Not sure I have ever heard of a Great White attack although we have a few that swim down the coast at times. The one that is the killer around the Florida coast most times is the Bull Shark. Most are just bites to the legs or arms where the shark is mistakes it for food and .leaves when it discovers it is not a fish. I would never swim in Great Shark territory looking like I might be a seal with a wet suit on.

 

[BigBill]

We're on the menu on land and sea.

In one of the bodies of freshwater we have a 4' diameter snapping turtle. I hooked it once and a human sized head came up. My son thought it was a log. I said no it's a giant turtle. On the ground as we arrived there was fishing line on the ground probably hundreds of yards. Someone else hooked this turtle too.
We have no clue what's in these bodies of water. I know it's around 4' diameter because it swims past us on a low bridge we fish from that connects these two bodies of water. It went right under me.

 

[Rudi]

As I understand it, surfers paddling on boards look much like a seal from below. There are numerous types of shark in the North Pacific.

 

[Igiveup]

No sharks in my part of Oregon. South central high desert. Not even sand sharks.

 

[RobertJ.]

Any idea what brand o' shark it was?

A fellow surfer got a look at it, but I haven't seen any speculation about what kind it was.

 

[RobertJ.]

We get a lot of leg and arm bites here in Florida because of so many miles of coast line.

I read that New Smyrna Beach is called the "Shark Attack Capital of the World"!

 

[Absalom]

As I understand it, surfers paddling on boards look much like a seal from below. There are numerous types of shark in the North Pacific.

In the decades I've lived up here, I don't remember a single actual sustained shark attack being reported.

The usual pattern is a single-bite event where the shark apparently realizes something isn't right the moment it tastes plastic, rubber, or sunscreen, and backs off.

Unfortunately, if the shark is big enough, one bite can do enough damage that blood loss leads to occasional fatalities. The last time there was a possible shark-related fatality on the Oregon coast appears to have been in 1975.

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

Surfing Ponce Inlet as a youth would entail near-daily blacktop shark sightings in the appropriately named Shark Shallows, and huuuuuuge hammerheads right in the inlet feeding on tarpon.

None of those, nor the nurse sharks, lemon sharks, bonnetheads, sand sharks, etc. would raise the blood pressure much.

The Bull sharks are the ones to watch out for in Florida. They are unpredictable, and will bite to bite. If I had to call one ocean-dwelling creature a jerk, it would be a Bull shark.

Bull sharks are reported as much as 20 miles up from the
mouth of rivers that empty into the ocean.
My dive instructor while I was in the Navy told us to remember
once we were in the ocean we were not the top predator. I
have always thought of that when in ocean waters.

 

[hoosierone]

I have a simple policy: stay out of the ocean, gulf, whatever.

 

[Absalom]

We get a lot of leg and arm bites here in Florida because of so many miles of coast line. Not sure I have ever heard of a Great White attack although we have a few that swim down the coast at times.....

Although come to think of it, if I were in Florida my main concern would be how far I have to swim out into the ocean to be safe from Burmese pythons

 

[Texas Star]

Bull sharks (C. leucas, if I recall the scientific name) range over a 1,000 miles up some rivers and live in some lakes, notably Lake Nicaragua.

They secrete a lot of testosterone and aggression.

 

[LCC]

Been surfing non-stop since 1962, the last 15 years on the Oregon coast, have had a couple of 'drive by's' over the decades. One in Australia, the other in Northern California.
Two years ago a fellow surfer, Nick, was banged off his board at Pacific City by an adult White Shark. I was walking down the beach with my board to paddle out when everyone in the lineup began yelling and paddling towards shore at warp speeds. It was a very shaken Nick that arrived at the beach, injury free, big bite mark in his board.
In the end, no different than someone suddenly veering across the center line into a head on. Mangled is mangled.

 

[1sailor]

Because of all the seals and sea lions here on the south Oregon Coast I imagine the water can be a little sharky. Fortunately the water is so cold there aren't many folks in the water. Sneaker waves are the big killer here.

 

[Fishinfool]

Great Whites can probably be assumed to be the most deadly shark when they attack. But, attacks are relatively rare.

Bull sharks are credited with around 100 known fatal attacks, and many more non-fatal.

However, no one seems to think about the Oceanic White Tip. That was the species that is credited with killing and eating upwards of 300 US Sailors when the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by the Japanese in 1945. Though in smaller numbers than the Indianapolis, the same species is credited with many other deaths in ship sinkings in the Pacific during WWII.

The White Tip may very well be the shark attack king.

Larry

 

[Texas Star]

Great Whites can probably be assumed to be the most deadly shark when they attack. But, attacks are relatively rare.

Bull sharks are credited with around 100 known fatal attacks, and many more non-fatal.

However, no one seems to think about the Oceanic White Tip. That was the species that is credited with killing and eating upwards of 300 US Sailors when the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by the Japanese in 1945. Though in smaller numbers than the Indianapolis, the same species is credited with many other deaths in ship sinkings in the Pacific during WWII.

The White Tip may very well be the shark attack king.

Larry

Yes, but it's a deep water species, so mainly attacks ship and plane disasters, not surfers and swimmers. But that means you have many victims at once and prob. blood in the water.

 

[jc2721]

In today's news (12/08/20) a surfer got bit pretty badly on Maui--he's in the hospital recovering from surgery. The chunk bitten out of his board measured 17" across. Time to get a bigger boat.

40 years ago, while drinking beer at the University's beer garden some guy came up to us and joined in on the conversation. After a while someone brought up the topic of shark attacks and yep, you guessed it--our new buddy stood up, took off his shirt and showed the near-perfect shark bite shaped row of stitches across his torso. It looked to be at least 12 inches across but he didn't drop trou to show the full extent of the bite.

Needless to say, he didn't have to buy any drinks that night. The next week we were at the same beer garden and spotted our pal, sitting with a different bunch and sure enough, after a pitcher of beer, off comes the shirt and the girls all shrieked and the guy gets blotto on all the free beer poured for him. After a few months he had worn out his welcome.

Do they even serve beer at university cafeterias or bars anymore?