The Dorsal Fin

The Sun Sentinel is reporting that George Burgess, Florida Program for Shark Research Director, has determined that the species involved in yesterday’s fatal shark attack off Stuart Beach, FL was a member of the requiem family, which includes tiger sharks, bull sharks, blacktip sharks, and spinner sharks. Burgess examined the bite wounds on the victim and determined that an 8-9′ shark of the requiem family was responsible for the two fatal wounds. Burgess said his examination definitively ruled out the great white shark, a member of the Lamnidae family.

One day after a fatal shark attack off of Stuart Beach, sightings of large schools of sharks off of nearby Palm Beach are being reported.

According to WPTV.com, the number of sharks spotted off of Reef Road was “easily more than a hundred.”
The species of sharks seen in the video was not reported.

At the time of the WPTV.com report, lifeguards were monitoring the migrating sharks to determine whether or not beach closings would be necessary.

Juvenile great white sharks (Carcharodon Carcharias), though rare, can be found off the coast of Florida during the winter months, along with several other shark species.

The Palm Beach Post has a cleverly crafted article with a headline “possibly” identifying the species involved in yesterday’s fatal shark attack of a Stuart, Florida kite boarder. The headline, Expert: Young great white sharks possibly involved in fatal Stuart attack, is followed up with the statement credited to Grant Gilmore noting that “young great white sharks — the fish of Jaws notoriety — are among suspects in Wednesday’s fatal attack off Stuart’s coast.” However, if you read far enough into the article, it states that Gilmore would NOT guess which species was involved, since the only available information about the attack was early news reports.

The article goes on to discuss yesterday’s shark attack and mentions three other species common to the area that are cited as being “known to attack humans” but notes that these three species (bull sharks, tiger sharks, and great hammerhead sharks) prefer warmer waters and tend to leave the area in the winter.

Despite the tendency for these species to leave the area in the winter, tiger shark sightings were reported just last week at Riviera Beach, approximately 35 miles north of yesterday’s attack. In addition, a shark which at least one news source identified as a great hammerhead, was also caught on Riviera Beach last week. That same report indicates that bull sharks are common in the area this time of year.

While there is nothing dishonest, per se, about the story’s headline identifying a “possible” suspected species, the nudging of the reader towards the idea that great white sharks (“of Jaws notoriety,” no less) were behind the attack is fairly prominent, despite no evidence being available at the time of the report to indicate the species. So, while the article is not necessarily dishonest, I find it a bit misleading at best. Other news agencies are eating up the Palm Beach Post article and running their own similar stories, including the LA Times article,
Young great white sharks may have killed Stuart surfer, expert says.

While it may turn out that great white sharks were, in fact, involved in this tragic attack, running headlines based on a few statements suggesting a possibility that great white sharks were the culprits is simply irresponsible reporting. Given the limited information that was available when the statements were made, speculation by news agencies falls outside of the realm of objective reporting, and is irresponsible journalism, at best, especially considering the fact that the expert who was questioned on the subject specifically stated that there was not enough information to even guess the species.

According to multiple news outlets, a 38-year-old Stuart, Florida man died after suffering multiple shark bites while kite surfing near Stuart Beach. A lifeguard spotted the man in distress and paddled out to him where he was being circled by several sharks, according to WFLX.com. Despite the rescue efforts of the lifeguard, the man was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.

While an attack of this nature is almost unheard of in Florida waters, particularly this time of year, the loss of life is no less tragic. My thoughts go out to the victim’s family and friends.

I usually try to avoid repeating stories from some of the other major shark blogs out there, but this one is too good not to share, in case anybody missed it at The Best Shark Dive in the World! and Shark Diver’s Underwater Thrills: Swimming With Sharks. Video footage of a rare great white shark sighting off the coast of Florida, filmed last week about "6 to 7 miles outside of the Mayport Jetties," has been posted on YouTube. The video information posted on YouTube lists the shark as being at least 18′, although I suspect the size might be a bit overestimated, based on the apparent girth of the shark. (Then again, what do I know?) Regardless, of the shark’s size, it’s a rare find and the footage is well above “Bigfoot quality” in the respect that there is little doubt that the subject matter is clearly a white shark.

The video was posted by YouTube user surfergirl10244 who posted a couple more short clips of the white shark, in addition to the one above. Check out the links below for the other clips.

Clip #1
Clip #2