The Dorsal Fin

WAVY.com is reporting that local shark experts “almost certain that it was a shark, maybe even two” that bit surfer Caleb Kauchak, last week.

According to the report, Dr. Jack Music, Professor Emeritus at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) is “certain it was a shark” and is “reasonably sure” that it was either a blacktip or spinner shark involved in the attack. Music has studied sharks for over forty years and has investigated previous attacks in the Virginia Beach area.

Speculation has run rampant in various media reports about what species bit the teen. The most recent WAVY.com report noted that there was speculation that the wounds could have been caused by bluefish, while an earlier WAVY.com report (seen above) mentioned a bull shark or sandbar shark as possible suspects.

BBC Earth recently added the above video to their YouTube channel that features a “field test” of sorts of a shark repellent derived from dead shark tissue. The logic behind the repellent is that the scent of rotting shark meat will drive sharks away from an area, according to the video’s narrator. Based on what you see in the video, releasing the repellent certainly seems to result in the Caribbean reef sharks and blacktip sharks leaving the area.

Unfortunately, there is little mention of any of the controls involved in this “experiment.” While the repellent seemingly appears to work on these particular species of sharks, at least based on what we are shown the video, it is unclear how effective it might be on other species.

While the video features some nice imagery, the extent to which Philippe Cousteau Jr and Tooni Mahto play up the event for the cameras seems a little bit overdone.

According to a statement from Paul Barrington, the shark involved in the Wrighstville Beach incident was erroneously identified as a sand tiger shark.

Contrary to statements made in a WECT.com feature on the recent shark attack at Wrightsville Beach, Paul Barrington of the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher was quoted today in a Lumina News article as saying…

"A lot of the media has so far erroneously identified it as a sand tiger shark. It takes a tremendous amount of forensics to determine specifically what type of shark it is."

The WECT.com feature stated that Barrington believed that "a sand-tiger shark could have been the suspect" in the Wrightsville Beach incident. However, Barrington’s recent quotes seem to dispute that notion.

George Burgess stated in the Lumina News article that the species of shark involved will likely remain a mystery. Burgess and Barrington confirmed the shark was approximately 4′ in length. Barrington’s list of suspected species include the small sharpnose shark (the species with presently the largest population in coastal NC), the dusky, the sandbar, the lemon, the black tip or the spinner shark, according to the Lumina News article.

NBC-2.com is reporting that nine bonnethead and two blacktip sharks were found dead along Tigertail Beach in Florida. A stingray and catfish were also found in the area. According to the report, officials said it was unusual for multiple sharks to wash ashore, although no cause has been identified, yet. Water samples and tissue samples have been sent off for testing.

Warning: video contains images of dead sharks.