The Dorsal Fin

According to a National Post article, a Canadian woman who was the victim of an apparent shark attack in Cancun, Mexico is recovering from her injuries and has “all her limbs intact.” This news is in contrast to earlier reports that the woman had lost an arm as a result of the shark attack.

The victim’s father, Alberto Baldassari, told the National Post that his daughter was “doing relatively well,” after undergoing surgery to repair “severe wounds” to her arm and leg. He went on to say that some of the reports regarding his daughter’s attack were “grossly exaggerated.” The victim plans to return to Canada via “an air ambulance” as soon as her condition allows travel, according to her father.

In what seems to be a bizarre related bit of news, an iNews 880 is reporting that “media reports” are claiming that the victim was attacked by a female bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) who was giving birth prior to the attack taking place. The iNews 880 report goes on to quote a “spokesman for Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas” as saying that the incident was an act of “self defense” on the shark’s behalf and not a “shark attack.”

The details surrounding the iNews 880 story seem sparse, so it should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

The Vancouver Sun is reporting that a 38-year-old Canadian tourist suffered injuries to her left leg and arm yesterday as the result of shark attack. According to Dr. Italo Sampablo Lauro, the medical director of a private Cancun hospital where the victim is being treated, the injuries were “not life-threatening,” and she expected to “recover.” However, an AFP release reports that the victim lost an arm and was left in “grave” condition. The AFP cited a Yucatan newspaper article.

A juvenile white shark that was once on display at the Monterey Bay Aquarium has turned up dead. The female great white was “collected” by the aquarium on August 12, 2009 and subsequently released back into the wild on November 4, 2009.

According to satellite tracking tags attached to her prior to release, the young female white shark (which can be seen in the video above) had initially traveled from Monterey Bay to Baja. She was near Ensenada, Mexico the last time she was “heard” from, according to the aquarium’s Sea Notes blog.

Unfortunately, Sea Notes goes on to report that about two months ago, the shark’s satellite tracking tags started reporting from land. Oscar Sosa-Nishizaki, a Mexican researcher, traced the satellite tag movements to the home of a fisherman who acknowledged having caught the shark in a gill-net, according to Pete Thomas’ Outdoors blog.

Great white sharks are protected species in Mexican waters, but it is not entirely uncommon for younger white sharks to end up being caught accidentally by fishermen and sold as “swordfish” at Ensenada fish markets, as the Underwater Thrills blog reported on last year.

While another white shark is gone, hopefully her death will help bring more attention to the problems that the species is facing.