“Pretty much every shark bite is an accident,” said Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History. “It’s mistaken identity.”The chance of being bitten by a shark is statistically low. Last year, there were 88 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide, including five fatalities, according to the program’s International Shark Attack File. The United States, with its long coastlines and busy beaches, has historically had the most attacks — overwhelmingly in Florida — followed by Australia, South Africa and Brazil. Another man was bitten off Cape Cod last month near Longnook Beach in Truro, but he fought off the shark and survived.

Source: New York Times September 17, 2018 11:26 UTC