The Dorsal Fin

Surgeons are crediting the quick response of bystanders with saving the life of British shark attack victim Michael Cohen. Cohen’s right leg was severed by a bite from a white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) while swimming of Fish Hoek beach in Capetown, South Africa.

The Daily Mail reports that Hugh Till and Douglas Drysdale, who were in the area trying to spot whales, witnessed the attack and entered the water to assist Cohen back to shore. Bystanders applied a tourniquet to Cohen’s leg using a wetsuit and belt quickly after he was brought to beach following the attack. Surgeon Andrew Nicol told reporters that the quick action and proper first aid applied by those on the scene helped saved Cohen’s life.

The UK’s Channel 4 News reports that lifeguards told Cohen not to enter the water, due to three white sharks being spotted over a 90 minute period. According to the report, Cohen told the lifeguards that he was going in and that they should blame him and not the sharks, in the event of an attack. As of yesterday, Cohen remains hospitalized, recovering from his injuries, according to The Daily Mail.

Australia’s Ten News reports that a 21-year-old man was fatally attacked by a shark on Sunday while body-boarding in Bunker Bay. The victim’s friends were able to get him to the beach after the attack, but his injuries proved to be too severe too resuscitate him. Friends described the victim as having a passion for the ocean.

The beach has been closed and spotter planes are being used to search for the shark involved, which is believed to be either a white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) or a bronze whaler (Carcharhinus brachyurus). Ten News reports that some are calling for the shark responsible to be killed, but they went on to say that authorities are not likely to kill the animal.

Friends of the victim made a make-shift memorial to him on the beach using a piece of surfboard.

A photo taken off Encinitas, California has been making news as of late. San Diego’s CBS 8 reports that the photo was taken off Swamis beach, and that a “local shark expert who confirmed that the shark in the photo is a 10 to 12 foot great white.”

While the CBS 8 report seems to take the stance that the image does, in fact, show a large shark, Encinitas Lifeguard Sgt. Robert Veria told CBS 8 that he believes the image is that of a surfer performing a duck dive and that the “fin” seen in the picture is merely the bent leg of the surfer. Additionally, none of the surfers in the water, many of whom appear to be in close proximity to the shape that is being referred to as a shark, reported seeing a shark.

A report on the photo also appeared on The Early Show which airs nationwide on CBS.

Is this an image of a white shark’s caudal fin or just a surfer’s leg? Feel free to sound off in the comments, if you have an opinion on the photo.

According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium website, they have a new juvenile white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) on display. The male shark was apparently intentionally caught last month near Malibu, California by commercial fishermen using a purse seine net with the assistance of a spotter plane. The shark, which is the sixth white shark to be put on display at the MBA was put on display in the aquarium’s Open Sea exhibit yesterday.

Unfortunately, the last white shark on display at MBA was released only to end up dying in fisherman’s gill-net in Mexico months after her release.

Video by YouTube user daveshooey.

NBC Los Angeles conducted an interview with Michael Castillo, the fisherman who caught and killed a shark from Huntington Beach Pier last month. The shark in question was a juvenile great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), which is a protected species in California waters. However, Castillo believed he had caught a shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus), a species unprotected by law.

A warden from the California Department of Fish and Game examined Castillo’s catch and also identified the shark as a mako. However, the warden took teeth samples from the shark which later confirmed the species as being a white shark. After the shark was positively identified, the warden returned and confiscating the shark.

Castillo was not issued a citation for the white shark. However, NBC LA reports that DFG officials are still investigating the catch, and it will be up to the Orange County District Attorney’s office to decide whether charges will be filed. Castillo maintains that he did not know his catch was a protected white shark.