
On June 23rd, a shark bit Blayne Brown, a 14-year-old boy from North Carolina. The incident happened at North Topsail Beach, close to Beach Access No. 4, in Onslow County. Police Chief William Younginer reported it at around 12:30 p.m.
After hearing a disturbance, onlookers yelled out to those in the water, telling them to get out. Someone yelled out, “Shark!”
As a tourist from West Virginia, Brown was bitten twice on the ankle and leg. A prior distress call had already sent two policemen and one EMS officer to the location. An onlooker rescued Brown, bundled him in a towel, and applied pressure on the wounds to halt the bleeding. After two officers bandaged Brown’s wounds, he was flown to Camp Lejeune, the Naval Medical Center.
According to Younginer, there have been no documented cases of shark attacks or bites in the region since 2018. Brown will likely be discharged from the hospital soon.
Lawrence Cahoon, a marine biology professor at UNC Wilmington, told the local media that shark attacks are rare.
According to Cahoon, sharks employ a variety of senses to find food.
Cahoon said that sharks can detect low-frequency noises and human movement in water up to half a mile away.
Saltwater is an excellent medium for the transmission of low-frequency sounds. According to Cahoon, sharks can detect that human flesh isn’t component of their typical diet and decide not to eat it.
Eight shark attacks occurred in North Carolina over a three-week period in 2015. A quarter of them were attributed to misidentification or single bites. The best guess is that bull sharks were behind the other, more calculated assaults.
The bump-and-bite attack is a strategy used by bull sharks. Biting and tackling prey persists after initial contact ends, preventing the prey from escaping. While most bull sharks hunt alone, they may sometimes form temporary pairs to increase their chances of success or to fool their prey.