Hawaii shark attacks: one might have been an eel – officials

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/20/hawaii-shark-attacks-one-might-have-been-an-eel-officials

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A surfer may have been bitten by an eel, rather than a shark, in an encounter off Hawaii’s popular Waikiki Beach, according to officials.

The surfer was hurt on Saturday within hours of a shark attack on a man off Oahu’s Lanikai Beach. Both men were taken to hospital.

Related: Shark attacks seriously injure two men off Hawaii, officials say

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources was waiting to interview the man hurt off Waikiki to figure out which creature bit him, agency spokesman Dan Dennison said.

Hawaii’s coral reefs are home to a variety of eels, including some with large mouths and sharp, long teeth that help in capturing prey. They usually are not dangerous or aggressive unless provoked, the Maui Ocean Center’s website says.

Dennison said it was the first time he had heard of a possible eel attack in Hawaii waters. The state kept records for shark bites but not eels, he said.

In the earlier attack witnesses said a tiger shark bit a 44-year-old man off Lanikai Beach around noon on Saturday.

The man had been swimming to shore from the Mokulua Islands, said Shayne Enright, a Honolulu Emergency Services spokeswoman.

He was attacked about 50 to 100 yards (45-90m) from shore, according to the Honolulu fire department. A local man helped him to shore on an outrigger canoe.

Saturday’s bite was the sixth confirmed shark encounter in Hawaii this year, and the second in as many weeks on Oahu, state statistics show. A man lost his leg when a tiger shark bit him on Oahu’s North Shore less than two weeks ago.

Most shark bites this year have happened in turbid or murky water, and all so far have resulted in injuries. In April a shark killed a woman while she was snorkelling off Maui.

Fourteen shark encounters occurred in Hawaii in 2013 and two were fatal. Two did not involve injuries as the sharks bit surfboards but not the people riding them.

In 2014 there were six shark encounters, but three involved no injuries. None of those attacks were fatal.

Officials recorded an average of 4.2 shark encounters per year from 2005 to 2009. Since 2010 the average has increased to 8.6 per year.