Shark Problems (from a human’s viewpoint) 175
waii and Maui (at night) was attacked twice by a Cookiecutter Shark. The
shark first tried biting the swimmer’s chest and, not finding much meat
there, removed a circular plug of flesh three inches across and one inch
deep from his calf, a classic Cookiecutter mode of attack. The wound took
nine months to heal completely.
Stingrays are obviously dangerous because of their toxin-covered barbs.
Most stingray “attacks” are provoked, in the sense that the injured per-
son deliberately or accidentally grabbed, kicked, or stepped on the animal.
Totally unprovoked incidents are also known, however. A woman riding
in a fast-moving speedboat in the Florida Keys in 2008 was killed when a
75-pound Spotted Eagle Ray jumped out of the water and landed on her.
She struck her head against the boat and died from blunt force trauma. Ea-
gle and manta rays frequently leap entirely out of the water for reasons that
aren’t altogether clear. One idea is that they are trying to rid themselves
of attached remoras (suckerfish). Another Florida incident in 2006 also in-
volved a Spotted Eagle Ray leaping out of the water and into a boat and, in
the process, stabbing a man in the chest. Fortunately, the man survived.
Why do sharks attack people?
The International Shark Attack File classifies attacks as either unpro-
voked or provoked. The reasons for unprovoked attacks are varied. Among
the suggested motives are (1) investigatory bumps and bites, where a shark
is testing the edibility of an item; (2) defensive or aggressive bites, where a
person is somehow perceived as a threat or as a competitor; (3) territorial
defense, although true territoriality in sharks is not known; (4) mistaken
A Nurse Shark cruises slowly over
the reef at Ambergris Caye, Belize.
Nurse Sharks are often encoun-
tered lying perfectly still on the sea
floor in shallow Caribbean habitats.
They are docile, harmless sharks
that can grow to over 4 m ( 13 ft) in
length. “Attacks” are almost always
provoked, as when a diver pulls the
tail of a resting shark. Photo by Jo-
seph Thomas, Wikimedia Commons, http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nurse_Shark_ 4472
.jpg