The Dorsal Fin

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.

UPDATE (07/22/10): Paul Barrington has been quoted by another news source as saying that the sand tiger shark was erroneously identified as the shark involved in the Wrightsville Beach incident.

According to WECT.com, Paul Barrington, of the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, believes the shark suspected of biting a 13-year-old girl at Wrightsville Beach, NC might be sand tiger shark (aka grey nurse shark or ragged tooth shark). Kendall Parker sustained a single bite to the arm, while she was in waist-deep water on Saturday. Her injuries required 40-stitches, but she is expected to make a full-recovery.

The sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus) is generally considered to be “docile” and non-threatening to humans. A sand tiger shark’s diet consists primarily of fish. Barrington mentions in the interview above that with a the number of bait fish in the water a “hit-and-run attack” could be a case of mistaken identity.

KABC News is reporting that a 13-year-old North Carolina teen is expected to fully recover after being bitten twice on her left leg while swimming off Topsail Island in North Carolina. Carley Schlentz’s wounds required 60 stitches. While doctors expect her to recover fully, she will be on crutches for the next few weeks and her mother said she may need reconstructive surgery after the wounds heal. The species of shark involved in the attack has not yet been determined.

Live Science has an interesting read on how the movie “Jaws,” the Jersey Shore attacks of 1916, and World War II accounts of shark attacks have altered the public perception of sharks over the past century. The article quotes George Burress as saying

“At the turn of the 20th century, there was this perception that sharks had never attacked a human being. There was even a reward offered if someone could prove they were bitten by a shark — money that was never collected.”

The article goes on to note that after “Jaws” was released shark-hunting tournaments began to gain popularity on the East Coast of the U.S. According to Burress, the shark-hunting trend “dramatically reduced nearly all shark species over the following decades.”

The article also goes on to mention an “inadvertent benefit” that came about as a result of declining shark populations. Scientist became more conscious of the need learn more about sharks which resulted in an increase in funding for shark research.

Visit Live Science to see the full article, How ‘Jaws’ Forever Changed Our View of Great White Sharks.

The St. Petersburg Times article, “Sharks: Myth vs. reality” is a solid example of responsible reporting when it comes to dealing with the subject of sharks. The article touches the threats of over-fishing on sharks, the odds of being attacked, and myths about shark attacks. Author Terry Tomalin manages to stick to the facts and avoid any unnecessary sensationalism, which often shows up in “news” articles involving sharks. While Tomalin is responsible enough not to ignore that sharks are predatory wild animals and can pose a risk to humans, he also is also objective enough to address the relatively low odds of the risk and dispel some of the myths about shark behavior. Kudos to Mr. Tomalin.

The full article is currently available online at TambaBay.com

Note: As of this writing, the article currently contains what appears to be a typo in the “By the numbers” section which states that the odds of a fatal shark attack on a human is 0 in 264.1 million. I’m assuming this statistic is meant to read 1 in 264.1 million.