University of Florida researchers used DNA extracted from a tooth fragment pulled from the leg of a shark bite victim to identify the species involved in an incident involving a 13-year-old boy off the coast of New York.
“We’re as close to 100 percent sure as we can get that this shark was a sand tiger,” director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History Gavin Naylor said.
The species was determined by comparing the DNA sample from the tooth against a genetic dataset of common shark species in the area. This is the first time the method has successfully been used to identify the type of shark involved in a bite on a human.
The attack was one of two incredibly rare incidents in New York in July.The boy and a 12-year-old girl were bitten within an hour of each other on Wednesday less than five miles apart from each other at Atlantique and Sailor’s Haven beaches, respectively. They were the first recorded instances of an unprovoked attack in New York in 70 years.
Naylor said sand tiger bites are uncommon, and no reported sand tiger bites have proven fatal.
“If they really wanted to nobble you, they could,” Naylor said. “Sand tigers can weigh 500 pounds and have very sharp teeth. They have the potential to do real damage to humans but don’t, which underscores the fact that these bites are accidental. Sharks are not hunting humans.”
About 70 percent of shark bites are caused by unidentified species, Naylor said. Great whites, tiger sharks and bull sharks are often blamed for attacks because of their large size and the fact that they are responsible for the majority of identifiable bites, but “maybe there are other species that are hard to identify or are not so conspicuous,” he said. “They could be hiding under the radar.”