The Dorsal Fin

KHON2 reports that a veteran canoe paddler had a encounter with a shark that bit his canoe twice. Tom Bartlett was paddling about a half-mile from shore off of Kauai, Hawaii when the shark bit the front of his boat, released it and then came back and bit the canoe again. While Bartlett tells KHON2 that the shark wasn’t “ripping or tearing” at his canoe, the damage was enough to cause the vessel to take on water and begin sinking. Bartlett was able to paddle to shore despite the compromise to his canoe’s hull.

Bartlett did not know what kind of shark bit his canoe, but he says the bite marks indicate that its jaw was about 13-inches wide. While his canoe sustained some damage, Bartlett walked away from the encounter unscathed and was thankful that he himself was not bitten.

Hawaii’s KHON2 reports that a surfer had a close encounter with a shark off Hawaii’s Nimitz Beach. Moses Filipe was surfing with his son when he felt a crunching sensation on his board, when he looked down he saw the head the shark biting down on his surfboard. After being knocked off the board Filipe and his son paddled safely to shore.

Filipe was physically unscathed by the encounter, but the shark left teeth marks in his board. Based on the bite marks, Navy authorities determined that the shark responsible for the bite was a tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) estimated at 7′-8′ in length. Filipe told KHON2 that is was going to “take some time” before he gets back in the water.

YouTube user oahusquid recently posted the above video which documents a close encounter with a healthy-sized tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). According to the video description, the footage was shot off of Hapuna Beach, Hawaii. The inquisitive tiger shark comes in for a close look before swimming off.

KHON-2 is reporting that a Maui man was involved in the first documented case of a cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis) biting a human. Mike Spalding was swimming across the Alenuihaha channel in 2009 at night when a cookiecutter shark bit his calf.

When Spalding was initially bit, he did not know what was responsible for the attack. However, a recent study by researchers in Hawaii and Florida has confirmed that the species responsible for Spalding’s bite was the cookiecutter shark, making the bite the first documented case of the species biting a human.

For more on the story, check out KHON2

Lyman’s Beach on Hawaii’s Big Island has been the scene of two separate incidents involving what is believed to be a tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) biting a surfboard, according to a KHON2 report. The first incident occurred Sunday when a stand-up paddleboarder had her board bumped by a shark, followed by the shark biting the board. The second similar event occurred yesterday, in which, a longboard surfer had her board bumped and then bitten. No one was injured in either incident, but in both cases bite marks were left in the surfers’ boards.

Both incidents resulted in nearby beaches being temporarily closed. Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) air searches were unable to spot the shark in either instance. In both cases the surfers reported seeing “lots of turtles” in the area. Sea turtles are a known food source for tiger sharks.

Speculation that the same shark might be responsible for both bites is being investigated. DLRN will compare the bite marks on both boards to determine if the bites were delivered by the same shark. The size of the shark(s) will also be determined from the bite marks.