Authorities on California’s Central Coast confirmed that a body recovered from the ocean by deputies was a swimmer who went missing after a possible shark attack last week.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that the body was positively identified as 55-year-old Erica Fox of Monterey County. The woman’s body was recovered on Saturday about four miles south of the community of Davenport, about 25 miles from where she went missing.
“Monterey does have its tendencies to get bites in that area,” said Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach.
Lowe noted that despite recent incidents, shark bites are rare.
“On average we have about three injury-related shark bites in California each year,” Lowe told CBS News Bay Area. “Your probability of being bitten, is like the same as winning Powerball.”
The scientist said that some adult white sharks are in the area, particularly in the winter months, because they are there to feed on elephant seals.
The “Kelp Crawlers”, an open water swimming group co-founded by Fox, said they held a memorial for her on Sunday and planned to be back out in the water next weekend.
For days, divers scanned the waters off Lovers Point hoping to find a trace of Erica Fox, the missing open-water swimmer believed to have been killed by a shark on Dec. 21.
The intensive search involving multiple agencies came to an end last weekend when rescue teams recovered Fox’s body six days after she vanished from Monterey Bay, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Monday night. Fox was identified based on personal items recovered with her remains, including a shark-deterrent band worn on her ankle.
“Erica was doing what she loved — connected to the ocean, alive in her element. That matters. She didn’t lose her life in fear, but in passion,” Juan Heredia, a rescue diver who searched tirelessly for Fox, wrote in a statement.
A well-known figure in the local open-water swimming community, Fox was a co-founder of the Kelp Krawlers, a Pacific Grove-based group that swims year-round in Monterey Bay.
A friend and fellow swimmer, Sara Rubin, was among a group of 15 swimmers present when Fox disappeared. Rubin later wrote about the incident in local news outlet Monterey County Now.
“A harbor seal swam under me for close to a minute as I approached the beach, one of those wildlife-human interactions that we cherish,” Rubin wrote. “Like the other swimmers, I was unaware that a tragedy was happening, with only the sounds of my own strokes splashing.”
While the group was in the water, two witnesses reported the incident from shore around noon, telling Pacific Grove police that a swimmer may have encountered a shark, department officials said. When Rubin and the others returned to the beach, they realized Fox was not accounted for.
Police and fire crews from Pacific Grove and Monterey quickly launched a search-and-rescue operation, supported by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, California State Parks and multiple aircraft and vessels, authorities said. Beaches in Pacific Grove and Monterey closed for days as a precaution.
Despite more than 15 hours of searching across roughly 84 square nautical miles, crews were unable to locate Fox, and the active search was suspended later that day, according to police.
Divers including Heredia and Fox’s husband, Jean-François Vanreusel, continued scouring the rocky coastline until Fox’s remains werefound by law enforcement on Dec. 27 several miles north of Lovers Point. Cal Fire crews used a rope system to retrieve the body of the swimmer, clad in a black-and-blue wetsuit, from a remote stretch of beach south of Davenport, according to officials.
“Today, at approximately 2:00 p.m., a body was recovered from the ocean south of Davenport Beach,” the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Due to the close proximity to the recent shark attack victim in Monterey County, our agency is working closely with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and the Pacific Grove Police Department regarding the recovery.”
Sheriff’s officials did not identify the body as Fox until Monday night. Officials said a coroner’s report would be released once available.
The encounter was the second shark-related incident at Lovers Point in three years. In 2022, 62-year-old Steve Bruemmer was rescued by passersby after a shark bit him across his thighs and abdomen. Bruemmer belonged to the same swimming club.
Incidents of sharks attacking humans remain rare in California. According to data from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, there have been about 230 documented shark incidents statewide since 1950, with just 17 fatalities. Experts say the rise in reported encounters largely reflects increased ocean use and improved reporting, not a surge in aggressive shark behavior.
At a Sunday morning memorial, club members and friends walked together along the bluffs at Lovers Point, tracing the route of Fox’s final mile in the water, the Mercury News reported.
In her column, Rubin remembered Fox as a “bright light of a person” and a passionate triathlete and writer.
“She developed a deeply intimate relationship with the Pacific Ocean not by studying it or by looking at it, but by getting into it — again and again and again, on choppy days and gloriously calm days, logging what I can only guess are thousands of miles.”
A Mexican marine biologist was seriously injured after he was attacked by a shark while working off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast and transferred to a hospital in the country’s capital on Monday, authorities said.
Costa Rica’s Fire Department said it had rescued 48-year-old Mauricio Hoyos from the attack Saturday and carried him on a 36-hour journey from Cocos Island, around 340 miles off the coast. Despite the serious injuries to his head, face and arms, Hoyos arrived at the hospital in stable condition.
“He was tagging species for monitoring and when he tagged one of the island’s shark species, the shark turned,” said Luis Fernández, a physician with the fire department. “It was about 4 meters long with an enormous bite force — it turned and bit him on the head.”
Hoyos was leading a scientific expedition as part of the One Ocean Worldwide Coalition, a collaborative initiative that includes the organizations Fins Attached, For the Oceans Foundation, Reserva Tortuga and the Rob Stewart Sharkwater Foundation.
“Incidents like this are extremely rare,” Alex Antoniou, executive director of Fins Attached, said on social media. “Dr. Hoyos is an extraordinary scientist who has dedicated his career to shark conservation, and we are deeply grateful for the support of the Cocos Island community in this very difficult time.”
Cocos Island is a Costa Rican national park and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. It is renowned for its great diversity of species, particularly sharks.
In 2017, an American woman was killed after being mauled by a female tiger shark near the island. Her dive guide was also seriously injured in the attack. Authorities at the time said it was the first attack of its kind near the national park.
According to Costa Rica’s Ministry of Environment and Energy, there are about 14 species of sharks — including whale sharks, hammerhead sharks and tiger sharks — inhabiting the area, making it a popular spot for divers.
You can find shark meat in the United States in certain grocery stores, seafood markets and online — but the type of shark you’re buying might not be what you think it is, according to a new study.
In the study, published Wednesday in the Frontiers in Marine Science journal, researchers found meat from shark species at risk of extinction is commonly available in the U.S. under ambiguous or incorrect labels.
The study sampled 29 shark products: 19 filets purchased in grocery stores or markets in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C., and 10 jerky products bought online. DNA barcoding was used to determine the species of each product, which was then compared to the labels it was sold as.
“We found critically endangered sharks, including great hammerhead and scalloped hammerhead, being sold in grocery stores, seafood markets, and online. Of the 29 samples, 93% were ambiguously labeled as ‘shark,’ and one of the two products labeled at the species level was mislabeled,” Savannah J. Ryburn, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in a news release.
Of the samples, 31% turned out to be from four endangered or critically endangered species: the great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, tope and shortfin mako sharks. Other samples were from another seven species, including the vulnerable spinner, lemon, common thresher and blacktip sharks, as well as the near threatened smooth-hound shark and Pacific angelshark.
These sales aren’t just putting the sharks at risk, the study’s authors said, as there could be health implications if consumers are not aware of what they are buying. For example, some of the species found, including scalloped hammerhead, great hammerhead and dusky smooth-hound sharks, are known to contain high levels of mercury and methylmercury, as well as arsenic, which can pose health risks.
“When consumers are purchasing ambiguously labeled or mislabeled shark meat, they have no way to know what species they are consuming and what the associated health risks might be,” the authors wrote.
To help fix this problem, Ryburn said U.S. sellers should be required to provide species-specific names. “And when shark meat is not a food security necessity, consumers should avoid purchasing products that lack species-level labeling or traceable sourcing,” she advised.
Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she was selected to help launch the newspaper’s wellness vertical. She now covers breaking and trending news for CBS News’ HealthWatch.
Food products containing shark are being sold in grocery stores, seafood markets and online across the United States—and in some cases, they come from species at risk of extinction.
This is the warning of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who used DNA barcoding to analyze 30 such shark products purchased in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia in 2021 and 2022.
They found that nearly one-third of the samples came from endangered or critically endangered species—including great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, shortfin mako and tope.
“Of the 29 samples, 93 percent were ambiguously labeled as ‘shark,’ and one of the two products labeled at the species level was mislabeled,” said Savannah J. Ryburn, the study’s lead author, in a statement.
“We found critically endangered sharks being sold in grocery stores, seafood markets and online.”
Mislabeling and public health concerns
The study found widespread mislabeling. In fact, only one product had a correct, species-specific label. Many packages were sold simply as “shark,” making it impossible for consumers to know what they were buying.
Prices also varied dramatically. Fresh shark meat sold for as little as $6.56 per kilogram, while shark jerky averaged more than $200 per kilogram.
Beyond conservation concerns, researchers warned that some shark species, including hammerheads and smooth-hounds, contain high levels of mercury, methylmercury and arsenic, which can damage the brain and nervous system, cause cancer and impair fetal development.
In 2022, another study found that endangered shark meat was found in pet food, often labeled under the terms “white fish” or “ocean fish.”
Conservation context
Shark populations have already dropped by more than 70 percent since the 1970s due to bycatch, climate change, habitat destruction and overfishing. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that more than a third of shark species are now threatened with extinction.
While 74 shark species are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), enforcement remains limited. Once sharks are processed into fillets or jerky, visual identification is nearly impossible, leaving loopholes in trade restrictions.
Pictures of shark meat purchased for the study. Pictures of shark meat purchased for the study. Savannah Ryburn
Call for stronger labeling
“The legality of selling shark meat in the United States depends largely on where the shark was harvested and the species involved,” Ryburn explained.
“By the time large shark species reach grocery stores and markets, they are often sold as fillets with all distinguishing features removed, making it unlikely that sellers know what species they are offering.”
The authors argue that requiring species-level labeling could help protect consumers and vulnerable shark populations.
“Sellers in the United States should be required to provide species-specific names,” Ryburn said. “And when shark meat is not a food security necessity, consumers should avoid purchasing products that lack species-level labeling or traceable sourcing.”
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about sharks? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Reference
Ryburn, S. J., Yu, T., Ong, K. J., Wisely, E., Alston, M. A., Howie, E., Leroy, P., Giang, S. E., Ball, W., Benton, J., Calhoun, R., Favreau, I., Gutierrez, A., Hallac, K., Hanson, D., Hibbard, T., Loflin, B., Lopez, J., Mock, G., Myers, K., Pinos-Sánchez, A., Suarez Garcia, A. M., Retamales Romero, A., Thomas, A., Williams, R., Zaldivar, A., & Bruno, J. F. (2025). Sale of critically endangered sharks in the United States. Frontiers in Marine Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1604454
A surfer at a popular Sydney beach was mauled to death by a suspected “large shark” on Saturday, Australian police said, in a rare fatal attack.
The 57-year-old man was surfing with friends in the Pacific waters off northern Sydney’s adjoining Long Reef and Dee Why beaches when the attack happened, authorities said.
The man – an experienced surfer with a wife and a young daughter – lost “a number of limbs”, New South Wales police superintendent John Ducan told reporters.
“I do understand that both him and his board disappeared underwater,” he said. “The body was found floating in the surf.”
Surfers exit the water after authorities closed Long Reef Beach in Sydney following a shark attack on September 6, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images
A couple of surfers saw him in the water and got him to shore, Duncan said.
“Unfortunately, by that time, we understand he lost probably a lot of blood and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful,” he said.
Visitors walk along the shoreline as northern Sydney beaches remain closed following a suspected shark attack at Long Reef Beach on September 6, 2025.
SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images
People nearby saw the ocean predator, according to police, who earlier said they believed a “large shark” attacked the man.
Government experts will examine the remains of the surfboard and the man’s body to help them determine the species of shark involved, police said.
There are about 100 shark species in Western Australia, according to SharkSmart, a website run by Australian officials that warns about shark activity and gives tips on how to stay safe. Most of the species are capable of injuring humans, but an “overwhelming majority of them are not aggressive under most circumstances.” Most serious shark bites in ocean-loving Australia are from great whites, bull sharks, and tiger sharks.
After the incident, nearby beaches were closed for at least 24 hours. Drones and surf lifesavers on water skis were patrolling the beaches for shark activity.
Fatal shark attacks are rare. In 2024, there were only seven fatal attacks, including four unprovoked attacks, around the world, according to research by the International Shark Attack File, a database run by the Florida Museum of Natural History and the University of Florida.
Overall, shark attacks decreased dramatically in 2024 and were far below the annual average.
This was the first fatal shark attack in Sydney since 2022, when a 35-year-old British diving instructor was killed off Little Bay. The previous fatal attack in the city was in 1963. Australia’s last deadly shark attack was in March, when a surfer was taken off the remote Wharton Beach of Western Australia.
Another surfer was presumed dead after a shark attack in South Australia in early January. A witness who saw the attack rode into the sea and retrieved the man’s surfboard, but officials said there was “no sign” of the surfer afterwards.
8-year-old boy bitten by shark while snorkeling in Florida, officials say
FOOTBALL PLAYER IS RECOVERING THIS MORNING. A FORMER SEMINOLE HIGH SCHOOL STAR AND FSU PLAYER WAS SHOT TODAY. WE’RE HEARING FROM HIS FAMILY. PLUS, IT IS DECISION DAY IN ORANGE COUNTY FOR TWO SPECIAL ELECTIONS, THE KEY RACES AND OPEN SEATS AS POLLING LOCATIONS ARE NOW OPEN. PLUS, WE WANT TO GRAB YOUR UMBRELLA. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SOME COASTAL SHOWERS THIS MORNING AND THERE’S MORE RAIN ON THE WAY. HOW LONG WE’RE GOING TO BE DEALING WITH A SOGGY STRETCH. AND YOUR POWERBALL DREAMS ARE STILL ALIVE. NO WINNER IN LAST NIGHT’S BILLION-DOLLAR DRAWING. WE SHOW YOU THE NUMBERS. AND WHO WOKE UP A MILLIONAIRE RIGHT HERE IN FLORIDA. SUNRISE ON CW 18 STARTS RIGHT NOW. GOOD MORNING. ON THIS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND. THANKS FOR STARTING IT WITH YOUR SUNRISE TEAM HERE AT 8:00 AM JASON GUY AND I’M MEREDITH MCDONOUGH. LOTS TO GET TO THIS MORNING. FIRST WARNING METEOROLOGIST KELLIANNE KLASS WILL HAVE A CHECK OF THOSE TEMPERATURES AND SOME SHOWERS IN JUST A MOMENT. LET’S BEGIN THOUGH, WITH TRAFFIC EXPERT MEAGHAN MACKEY. MEGAN, I KNOW YOU’RE FOLLOWING A CRASH EARLIER TODAY, BUT. AND IT’S REALLY, THOUGH STILL LEADING TO A BIG BACKUP. YEAH, ALL THOSE LANES ARE BACK OPEN. HARD TO BELIEVE, THOUGH. LOOKING AT THIS CAMERA. THE CRASH ITSELF WAS RIGHT NEAR MILL. SO JUST BEFORE YOU GET TO I-4. BUT WESTBOUND BACKING UP PAST GOLDENROD. SO STILL THIS MORNING, HEADING OUT THE DOOR ALONG STATE ROAD FOUR WAYNE, IT’S PROBABLY BEST TO AVOID THOSE WESTBOUND LANES, BUT WE’LL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS CRASH. OF COURSE, IT IS THE FIRST DAY BACK TO SCHOOL AND WORK FOR MANY PEOPLE AFTER THE LONG WEEKEND. KELLIANNE HOPEFULLY A DRIER FORECAST IN STORE, ESPECIALLY FOR INLAND SPOTS. OUR COASTLINE. WE’RE TRACKING A COUPLE OF SHOWERS, BUT IT’S NOT AN ALL DAY WASHOUT. ALTHOUGH IF YOU DO HAVE SOME BEACH PLANS, JUST KEEP IN MIND NOT THE BEST BEACH DAY BECAUSE WE’RE GOING TO HAVE GUSTY CONDITIONS AND A HIGH RISK OF RIP CURRENTS. PLUS ON AND OFF SHOWERS FOR I-95 LOCATIONS. ALL RIGHT, LET’S GET YOU OUT THE DOOR WITH A LOOK AT OUR TOWER CAMERA NETWORK OUT AT PORT CANAVERAL. MIX OF SUN AND CLOUDS TO START. AND AT TIMES WE HAVE A LITTLE BIT MORE CLOUD COVER THAN SUNSHINE. THAT’S JUST THE FORECAST FOR THE DAY AHEAD. ALREADY THIS MORNING, TRACKING SOME RAINFALL, WORKING AWAY FROM COCOA BEACH OVER TOWARDS MERRITT ISLAND, DOWN TO INDIAN HARBOR BEACH AND SATELLITE BEACH, JUST A FEW SPRINKLES AND A FEW MORE HEAVIER DOWNPOURS ON THE WAY TOWARDS SCOTTSMOOR. COUPLE OF SHOWERS AROUND OAK HILL AS WELL. IT’S ALL THANKS TO THIS FRONT THAT STALLED OUT IN SOUTH FLORIDA. PLUS, THERE’S AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE. IT’S A NON-TROPICAL LOW THAT’S OFF OF OUR COASTLINE AND WITH A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WE GET COUNTERCLOCKWISE WINDS. SO TODAY OUR WIND IS OUT OF THE NORTH NORTHEAST, WHICH IS WHY WE’RE GOING TO HAVE ON AND OFF SHOWERS ACROSS OUR COAST THIS MORNING. AND THIS AFTERNOON FOR INLAND SPOTS. I THINK THAT’S WHEN WE’LL SEE MAYBE A COUPLE OF PASSING SHOWERS AS WELL. COMING UP IN A FEW MINUTES, WE’LL TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT TODAY’S FORECAST PLUS THE TROPICS. BUT FIRST LET’S GET BACK TO MEGAN WITH A CHECK ON THE 408. YEAH. KELLIANNE. YOU CAN SEE HERE THE DELAYS HERE REALLY BAD. STILL THIS MORNING WESTBOUND IT IS BACKED UP PAST THE 417 IN GOLDENROD. STATE ROUTE FOUR WESTBOUND. THIS IS GOING TO IMPACT THOSE DRIVERS FOR THE MOST PART TRAVELING FROM THE WATERFORD LAKES AREA TOWARDS DOWNTOWN ORLANDO ALONG STATE ROAD FOUR WESTBOUND. SO I WOULD PERSONALLY AVOID THOSE LANES. AND ALSO YOU’RE STILL PAYING THOSE TOLLS TO SIT IN THIS TRAFFIC, SO YOU’RE BETTER OFF THIS MORNING USING COLONIAL DRIVE AS THAT DETOUR. YOU’RE GOING TO BE SITTING IN SOME STOPLIGHTS. YOU STILL NEED TO ADD AN EXTRA 20 TO 25 MINUTES FOR THAT MORNING DRIVE, BUT IT’S GOING TO BE A LOT BETTER THAN SITTING IN THIS TRAFFIC, BECAUSE WE REALLY DON’T SEE THESE DELAYS START TO IMPROVE UNTIL RIGHT WHEN YOU GET TO THAT I-4 INTERCHANGE, YOU CAN SEE THAT PURPLE AND RED HERE, SHOWING JUST HOW LONG THE BACKUP IS. SO SEVERAL MILES OVER TEN MILES THIS MORNING IMPACTING YOU WESTBOUND ALONG THE 408. NO OTHER BIG CRASHES RIGHT NOW, THOUGH. ONCE YOU GET TO I-4 THIS NICE AND QUIET FOR THAT TUESDAY MORNING DRIVE. HEADING OUT THE DOOR AFTER THIS LABOR DAY WEEKEND, WE’LL CHECK BACK IN WITH THOSE TRAVEL TIMES ALONG THE FOUR WAY COMING UP IN JUST A FEW MINUTES, IN ORANGE COUNTY, A COW WAS TO BLAME FOR A CRASH ALONG COLONIAL DRIVE NEAR BITHLO. THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE SAYS THAT THIS HAPPENED NEAR EAST RIVER HIGH SCHOOL AROUND 330 THIS MORNING. TRAFFIC WAS DELAYED FOR QUITE A BIT HERE, BUT THINGS ARE FLOWING ONCE AGAIN AT THIS HOUR. NO ONE WAS HURT. IN ORANGE COUNTY, VOTERS HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO THE POLLS FOR ABOUT AN HOUR NOW. THERE. IT’S PART OF A SPECIAL ELECTION. NOW THERE ARE TWO BIG ONES. YES, STATE SENATE DISTRICT 15 AND STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 40 ARE BOTH ON THE BALLOT. WESH 2’S PAOLA TRISTAN ARUDA IS IN WINTER PARK AT ONE OF THE POLLING LOCATIONS. MORE THAN 15,000 PEOPLE HAVE CAST THEIR BALLOTS EARLY, SO NOW WE’RE JUST WAITING TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL SHOW UP TO POLLING LOCATIONS LIKE THIS ONE. THE ACTUAL POLLING LOCATION IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER, AND WE HAVE SEEN A COUPLE OF CARS SO FAR. OF THOSE VOTES, OVER 10,000 WERE CAST BY MAIL AND ABOUT 5000 BY EARLY VOTING, MARKING THE CURRENT VOTER TURNOUT AT ABOUT 5.62%. STATE SENATE DISTRICT 15 IS THE SEAT LEFT VACANT WHEN GERALDINE THOMPSON DIED. IT COVERS AREAS OF WEST ORANGE COUNTY LIKE WINTER GARDEN, APOPKA, AND ZELLWOOD. STATE REPRESENTATIVE LAVONNE BRACY DAVIS WON THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY FOR THE SEAT, SO SHE’S FACING OFF AGAINST REPUBLICAN WILLIE MONTAGUE FOR THIS ELECTION. THE OTHER RACES FOR BRACY DAVIS’S SEAT IN STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 40, WHICH COVERS COLLEGE PARK, PINE HILLS, ROSEMONT AND OCOEE. RASHAWN YOUNG WON THE PRIMARY AGAINST FORMER STATE REP TRAVIS MCCURDY, AND TODAY, YOUNG FACES OFF AGAINST REPUBLICAN JUAN LEE. THE POLLS ARE NOW OPEN UNTIL 7 P.M., AND IF YOU ARE COMING OUT TO VOTE, MAKE SURE THAT YOU BRING A PHOTO AND SIGNATURE ID WITH YOU. COVERING ORANGE COUNTY IN WINTER PARK, PAOLA TRISTAN ARUDA WESH TWO NEWS. NEW. THIS MORNING WE’RE STAYING IN ORANGE COUNTY AND FOLLOWING UP ON A SCENE WHERE WE WERE LIVE AS POLICE WERE INVESTIGATING LAST NIGHT. WE NOW KNOW THIS IS PART OF A SHOOTING. IT’S ON EDGEMOOR STREET, JUST OFF NORTH IVEY LANE AND OLD WINTER GARDEN ROAD. THIS IS IN THE MALIBU GROVES NEIGHBORHOOD THERE. ORLANDO POLICE TELL US A MAN WAS SHOT. HE WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL AND IS EXPECTED TO SURVIVE. POLICE ARE GOING TO CONTINUE WITH THIS INVESTIGATION. ALSO THIS MORNING, A MAN IS IN THE HOSPITAL IN VOLUSIA COUNTY AFTER AN OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING. THIS WAS IN PORT ORANGE. AND POLICE SAY IN THE AREA OF CAREY COURT, RIGHT IN THE WILLOW RUN NEIGHBORHOOD, AUTHORITIES TELL US OFFICERS WERE FIRST CALLED OUT FOR A WELL-BEING CHECK ON SOMEONE WHO MIGHT HARM THEMSELVES. POLICE DIDN’T SAY WHAT LED UP TO THE GUNFIRE, BUT ONE MAN WHO DIDN’T WANT TO BE IDENTIFIED TOLD WESH TWO NEWS HE HEARD MULTIPLE GUNSHOTS. WHEN I CAME AROUND TO THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE, THERE WERE POLICE CARS EVERYWHERE, ALL UP AND DOWN THE STREET, SO I WALKED OUT FRONT TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON AND I SAW POLICE POLICEMEN ALONGSIDE MY HOUSE, WAVING EMPHATICALLY FOR ME TO GET BACK IN THE HOUSE. POLICE HAVEN’T SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THE EXTENT OF THE MAN’S INJURIES, ONLY THAT HE WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL. THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT IS NOW INVESTIGATING. RIGHT NOW, FLORIDA STATE FOOTBALL PLAYER FROM CENTRAL FLORIDA IS RECOVERING AFTER BEING FOUND SHOT NEAR TALLAHASSEE. AND SOME OF YOU MAY RECOGNIZE HIM. ETHAN PRITCHARD WAS FROM SANFORD. NOW, GADSDEN COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES SAY THAT PRITCHARD WAS FOUND IN A CAR SUNDAY IN HAVANA. THAT’S ABOUT 16 MILES NORTHWEST OF TALLAHASSEE. THE FLORIDA STATE LINEBACKER WAS SHOT JUST ONE NIGHT AFTER THE SEMINOLES PULLED OFF A BIG UPSET AGAINST THE NUMBER EIGHT RANKED ALABAMA. PRITCHARD DID NOT PLAY, BUT THAT’S NOT UNUSUAL FOR FRESHMAN HEAD COACH MIKE NORVELL IS ASKING EVERYONE TO KEEP PRITCHARD IN THEIR THOUGHTS AS HE FIGHTS TO RECOVER. I GOT A CHANCE TO BE THERE LAST NIGHT WITH HIM AND HIS DAD AND FAMILY AND YOU KNOW, GRATEFUL, YOU KNOW, FOR ALL THE SUPPORT AND, YOU KNOW, MEDICAL, YOU KNOW, SUPPORT THAT HE WAS ABLE TO RECEIVE. PRITCHARD PLAYED FOOTBALL FOR SEMINOLE HIGH AND WAS A FOUR STAR RECRUIT. HE WAS IN DEMAND FROM A NUMBER OF SCHOOLS, INCLUDING UCF, BUT HE CHOSE FSU. NO ONE ANSWERED AT THE PRITCHARD HOME. WHEN WE WENT TO TALK TO THEM IN A TEXT MESSAGE FROM HIS FATHER, EARL. THE FAMILY TOLD WESH TWO NEWS THAT WE ARE REQUESTING PRIVACY AT THIS TIME. IF YOU CAN, PLEASE PRAY FOR ETHAN AND OUR FAMILY. NOW, ONCE WE ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THE SITUATION, WE WILL REACH OUT. ETHAN IS A FIGHTER, BUT HE NEEDS SOME EXTRA HELPFUL PRAYERS RIGHT NOW. DEPUTIES SO FAR HAVE NO MOTIVE IN THE SHOOTING. TODAY, POLICE NEED YOUR HELP FINDING WHOEVER SHOT AND KILLED A TWO YEAR OLD GIRL AND SENT HER GRANDPARENTS TO THE HOSPITAL WITH CRITICAL INJURIES. MELBOURNE POLICE OFFICERS WERE STILL OUT AT THE HOME ON POPLAR LANE YESTERDAY AS A MEMORIAL FOR THIS LITTLE GIRL GROWS RIGHT THERE ON THE SIDEWALK. THE DEADLY SHOOTING WAS FRIDAY NIGHT. IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT, CALL THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE OR CRIMELINE. A MAN IS IN JAIL ACCUSED OF BREAKING INTO HIS EX-GIRLFRIEND’S HOME IN DELTONA AND THEN PULLING A GUN ON HER. DEPUTIES SAY THE WOMAN WAS HOME WITH HER FRIEND AND SISTER WHEN DAREN SINGLETARY BROKE IN THROUGH A WINDOW. DEPUTIES SAY HE THEN ATTACKED THE WOMAN BEFORE PULLING A GUN AND FIRING A ROUND INTO THE CEILING. EVENTUALLY, DEPUTIES SAY THAT HE TOOK HIS EX’S PHONE AND JUMPED OUT THE BACK WINDOW. DEPUTIES THEN TRACKED HIM DOWN TO NEAR LAKE HELEN. CRAWL OUT NOW. GOOD BOYS. WHAT A DOG! CRAWL TO YOUR RIGHT. YOU’RE RIGHT. I GOT. THEY EVENTUALLY FOUND SINGLETARY HIDING UNDER AN ABANDONED RV. THE GUN BURIED IN THE DIRT. HE’S NOW FACING HOME. INVASION, ROBBERY AND ASSAULT CHARGES. AS OF THIS MORNING, ALL PROTESTERS ARRESTED BY FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL FOR CHALKING ON THE CROSSWALK NEXT TO PULSE ARE OUT OF JAIL. THE BREWING LEGAL BATTLES. JUST THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT IN THE BACK AND FORTH SINCE FDOT ERASED THE RAINBOW CROSSWALK. UNDER NEW STATE REGULATIONS. WESH TWO DAVID JONES HAS MORE ON THE ARREST. THIS ISSUE IS BECOMING BIGGER. ATTORNEY BLAKE SIMONS SAYS IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN JUST A CROSSWALK. HIS CLIENTS, SOME OF WHICH WERE RECENT ARRESTEES, TOOK THE MESSAGE TO ORLANDO CITY HALL. THIS ISSUE NEEDS TO BE IN FRONT OF OUR POLITICIANS. IT NEEDS TO BE IN FRONT OF OUR GOVERNMENT. IN CITY HALL IS AN EXCELLENT PLACE TO CONTINUE EXERCISING OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH. DONOVAN SHORT, WHO GOES BY MELODY ZAPORIZHZHIA, WHO GOES BY KATE AND MARY JANE EAST, ALL FACED AN ORANGE COUNTY JUDGE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON LABOR DAY. SHANE SHANE. SHAME. ALL ARRESTED BY THE STATE HIGHWAY PATROL FOR PUTTING CHALK ON THE CROSSWALK LATE LAST WEEK. ANOTHER PERSON, SEBASTIAN SUAREZ, WAS ARRESTED FOR THE SAME OFFENSE. GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS SAYS ARTWORK AND MARKINGS, REGARDLESS OF THEIR MESSAGING, NEED TO GO. BASED ON NEW FDOT REGULATIONS. SO I WOULD REFER YOU TO THE DOT MEMO. THE PULSE MEMORIAL BEING ONE OF THE FIRST PLACES PAINTED OVER WITH THESE NEW ALLEGED FDOT REGULATIONS, WAS THE FIRST BLOW IN THIS FIGHT. THIS FIGHT HAS NOW BECOME BIGGER WITH SEBASTIAN’S ARREST AND NOW THE ARREST OF THE THREE INDIVIDUALS. LAST NIGHT. THE JUDGE FOUND PROBABLE CAUSE FOR THE ARRESTS OF THE THREE BECAUSE THE STATE GAVE A SPECIFIC AMOUNT FOR HOW MUCH IT COST TO REPAINT THE CROSSWALK, WHICH IT CALLED A TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICE. SIMONS ARGUES A CROSSWALK DOES NOT MEET THE DEFINITION FOR A TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICE. I DON’T THINK THE FDOT REGULATIONS ARE INFRINGING ON FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS. I THINK FHP CHOOSING TO TARGET PEOPLE FOR PERFORMING CONDUCTIVE SPEECH IN A CROSSWALK, WHICH IS AN EXTENSION OF THE SIDEWALK, A TRADITIONALLY HELD PUBLIC FORUM FOR FREE SPEECH. I THINK THAT IS THE ISSUE. DAVID JONES, NOW, TO GIVE YOU SOME CONTEXT, THE STATE FIRST PAINTED THE RAINBOW CROSSWALK BACK IN 2017, IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE 49 VICTIMS OF THE PULSE NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING. AND FDOT PAINTED IT OVER A WEEK AND A HALF AGO, IN THE EARLY MORNING OF AUGUST 21ST. WITHIN 24 HOURS, PROTESTERS AND SOME CITY OFFICIALS USED CHALK TO COLOR IN THE CROSSWALK AGAIN. BUT BY SUNDAY, FDOT CREWS REPAINTED THE CROSSWALK BACK TO BLACK AND WHITE. ORLANDO POLICE OFFICERS IN FLORIDA HIGHWAY PATROL TROOPERS STARTED GUARDING THE CROSSWALK LAST MONTH, THE SAME DAY SOMEONE FOUND A SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE THERE AT PULSE. IT TURNED INTO AN INVESTIGATION AND IT WAS DEEMED SAFE. NOW, THAT PACKAGE WAS ACTUALLY CHALKED. SOMEONE SENT TO HELP THOSE PROTESTERS. THE BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN PROTESTERS AND FDOT THEN CONTINUED UNTIL LAST FRIDAY, WHEN THE FIRST PERSON THERE WAS ARRESTED, SEBASTIAN SUAREZ. MORE ARRESTS HAPPENED SUNDAY, SETTING OFF MULTIPLE LEGAL BATTLES BETWEEN PROTESTERS AND THE STATE. MEANWHILE, TODAY, THIS RAINBOW CROSSWALK IN DELRAY BEACH WILL BE UP FOR DISCUSSION HERE IN CENTRAL FLORIDA. FDOT SAYS THE ARTWORK MUST BE REMOVED BY TOMORROW, BUT THE CITY REQUESTED A HEARING. IT’S BEING HELD AT FDOT. S TURKEY LAKE PLAZA OFFICES RIGHT THERE ALONG THE TURNPIKE IN ORLANDO. LOOKING AHEAD TO TOMORROW. ANOTHER BATCH OF STARLINK SATELLITES WILL LAUNCH FROM OUR SPACE COAST. SPACEX IS EXPECTED TO LAUNCH AT 706 TOMORROW MORNING FROM CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION. AND YOU CAN WATCH IT RIGHT HERE ON CW 18 WHEN IT LIFTS OFF. PICKLEBALL IS A VERY POPULAR SPORT. YEAH, BUT IN ONE CENTRAL FLORIDA NEIGHBORHOOD, IT’S CREATING A LOT OF NOISE. THE NEW LIMITS IN WHY SOME PLAYERS IN WINTER PARK SAY THE WHOLE THI
8-year-old boy bitten by shark while snorkeling in Florida, officials say
An 8-year-old boy was hospitalized after he was bitten by a shark in Key Largo, according to reports from WFLA. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office explained the incident happened while the boy was snorkeling around 3:24 p.m. off Key Largo on the oceanside, WFLA reports. >> Top headlines for Sept. 2 in Central FloridaThe boy was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Details about the boy’s condition are unknown. WFLA said the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were notified of the incident.
KEY LARGO, Fla. —
An 8-year-old boy was hospitalized after he was bitten by a shark in Key Largo, according to reports from WFLA.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office explained the incident happened while the boy was snorkeling around 3:24 p.m. off Key Largo on the oceanside, WFLA reports.
>> Top headlines for Sept. 2 in Central Florida
The boy was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Details about the boy’s condition are unknown.
WFLA said the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were notified of the incident.
I hope your wallets are ready, because Amazon Prime Day is here with a bunch of new deals that are hard to resist. From October 8-9, 2024, you’ll be able to shop deals on basically everything that Amazon offers. That means you can start your Christmas shopping early, or get yourself a gift just because.
I use Prime Day to save money on appliances and big items that I don’t want to pay full price for. Since I moved this year, that means I want a new vacuum. And luckily, Amazon has big brands like Shark on sale for almost a 50% discount.
Not only that, but Prime Day is the perfect time to stock up on your beauty favorites. Similar to the Sephora Sale, you won’t find better prices than on Amazon for brands like Paula’s Choice, L’Occitane, and O’Sea. Or, if you’ve always been dying to try a facial steamer or water pick, now is your chance to do so without spending too much money.
Whether you’re in the market for a new skincare routine, a new coffee maker, or just something to get your family for the upcoming holiday season…now’s the best time to save some money and get some shopping off your chest. Since there’s about a trillion deals going on right now, here are some of my picks for best Prime Day deals 2024:
I know multiple Ninja Creami owners who now turn up their noses to store bought ice cream. I normally wouldn’t bite with these kind of contraptions, but my mom bought one and now my life is changed. Make any açaí bowl, smoothie bowl, gelato, ice cream, and more with this 7-in-1 appliance.
The options are truly endless, and there’s a specific side of TikTok devoted to Ninja Creami recipes. It’s worth the money, especially if your family goes through ice cream like it’s nothing. Plus, with multiple pint containers included, you can stock up on flavors for later!
I don’t know how many people I’ve begged to get this product at this point. I’ve been a supporter of Grande Cosmetics for almost a decade at this point and it’s the reason I still have eyelashes. No matter how much I’ve put my lashes through: sleeping in mascara, tugging at them, clamping down with a curler too hard, losing clumps at a time…Grande Lash has saved them.
In fact, I often get asked if I’m wearing fake lashes. Yes, I’m going to brag here because it’s necessary. I have great eyelashes and it’s not because I was genetically blessed…it’s because years ago my friend introduced my to Grande Lash and now I use it daily. You’re welcome.
@eliedelaney Replying to @Alexa Weishaar Reviewing my hatch alarm clock after 1 week! I have mine set so light starts waking me up 20 minutes before the sound starts. Some mornings I’ve naturally woken up to the light, but the sound is not jarring at all if I sleep up to the sound. I sleep with the brown noise or calm ocean waves and wake up to forest birds! I think it would be a great addition to a Christmas list because it is an investment in your sleep! Not affiliated with the brand! #honestreview#hatchalarmclock#hatchalarmclockreview#hatchrestore#hatchrestore2#hatchrestorereview#naturalalarmclock♬ Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac
I honestly wasn’t sold on alarm clock changing your life…until my friends influenced me to get a Hatch Alarm Clock. The neutral design fits perfectly in any room, and it’s helped me get into a real sleep routine. You can control it from an app on your phone, and set up sounds and lights to help you go to sleep and wake up.
It’s an alarm clock that does it all, and right now it’s $25 off with Prime Day deals. Now, waking up isn’t as daunting as that incessant iPhone alarm sound that blares from your phone every morning. In fact…I actually look forward to it.
Although I prefer a physical book, I’m genuinely impressed at how the Kindle has recently got more people into reading. My roommate now totes hers around and constantly talks about the books she reads. If you’re looking to get anyone in your life into books, the Kindle is a great start.
Plus, it’s 34% off right now…so there’s a perfect Christmas gift for you that’s normally over $200! And since the weather is getting colder, there’s no better time to start reading and staying inside.
A tiger shark has surprised Australian scientists on an ocean research trip by regurgitating a spiky land-loving echidna in front of them.
Researchers from James Cook University said Thursday they were tagging marine life on the northeast coast when the three-meter tiger shark they caught vomited a dead echidna — a spiny creature similar to a hedgehog.
Nicolas Lubitz said he could only assume the shark gobbled up the echidna — also known as spiny anteaters — while it was swimming in the shallows off the island, or traveling between islands, which the animals are known to do.
“We were quite shocked at what we saw. We really didn’t know what was going on,” he said Thursday. “When it spat it out, I looked at it and remarked ‘What the hell is that?'”
Lubitz said that he scrambled to get his phone. “I managed to only get one picture, but you can see the outline of the echidna in the water,” he said.
A tiger shark not long after it regurgitated an echidna off the coast of Orpheus Island in May 2022.
Nic Lubitz, James Cook University
Lubitz said the dead echidna was whole when it was regurgitated in May 2022, leading scientists to assume the shark had only recently eaten it.
Echidnas — which are only found in Australia and New Guinea — are egg-laying mammals, have spines protruding from their bodies and use a beak-like snout to eat ants. According to WWF, during breeding season, echidnas like to form a “train” in which up to 10 male echidnas follow a female in the hopes of becoming her mate.
It is unclear how many of these animals are in the wild.
“Tiger sharks will eat anything. They’re just a scavenger. I’ve seen videos of them eating a rock for no reason,” Lubitz said. “I think the echidna must have just felt a bit funny in its throat.”
The tiger shark was unharmed after its spiky snack and scientists fitted it with an acoustic tracker before releasing it back into the water.
As part of the research project, which ran from 2020 to 2023, scientists tagged 812 fish, rays and sharks with 10-year trackers to understand more about their movement and behavior.
Tiger sharks are ranked second by the International Shark Attack File for the number of unprovoked attacks on humans, behind white sharks. Last year, a Russian man died after being mauled by a tiger shark at one of Egypt’s Red Sea resorts.
Cameron Whiting had just finished an easy 1.5-mile open-water swim and was bodysurfing Sunday morning off Del Mar Beach when a member of his swimming group began to scream.
At first, Whiting heard only the terror in her voice; then his mind processed that she was screaming, “Shark!”
One of the newer members of the swimming group — a 46-year-old man whose name has not been disclosed — had been attacked. The woman closest to him was yelling for help.
Since it was before 9 a.m. and lifeguards weren’t on duty, help would have to come from the swimmers nearest the man in distress. That was Whiting and another member of the group, Kevin Barrett. The pair were about 100 yards offshore, while most of the others were back on the beach and thinking of breakfast.
Barrett took off toward the man — and the shark — as quickly as he could. Whiting, 31, who had trained as an ocean lifeguard, quickly scanned the shore to make sure someone there was summoning help, then began to swim.
As he pumped his arms furiously, two fears battled in his mind.
The first was the realization that he was swimming directly toward an active shark attack. The second was his dread of what he might find when he got there. Would his fellow swimmer have all his limbs? Would he be alive?
“That is what scared me the most,” Whiting said. “To get to him and realize …”
But when he had completed the approximately 50-yard swim, just behind Barrett, they found the victim conscious, limbs intact. He was, however, bleeding profusely.
They were about 150 yards from shore; it was hard to imagine he could make it on his own. When they flipped him over, blood began to gush from his wet suit.
As they started to pull him toward the beach, a surfer paddled over and offered up his board.
They lifted him onto the surfboard, and Whiting climbed on behind to paddle. Barrett swam alongside, stabilizing the victim. The woman who had called for their aid followed behind.
“That’s when I started to see the full extent of the blood,” Whiting recalled. It was “gushing off both sides of the board, leaving a big streak” in the water.
Whiting paddled as quickly as he could. It went through his head that he was “surrounded by blood, and there’s a shark still out there.” The journey to shore “felt like an eternity but was probably a few minutes.”
Finally, they got to a place where they could stand. Rescuers hoisted the man and carried him, still prone on the board, up the beach.
By then, lifeguards — who had been nearby, waiting to go on duty — had come speeding to the scene.
They laid the victim on the back of the lifeguard truck to assess his injuries.
The victim said he had been bumped once by the shark, then bitten. Then the shark came toward him again. He tried to punch it, throwing his fist toward its nose and sustaining deep cuts to his arm in the process.
He also had lacerations to the torso, from where the shark had bitten him on its first pass.
Whiting said he tried to shield the man from seeing the deep cuts in his chest.
They tied a tourniquet around his arm, then applied as much gauze as they could to the lacerations on his chest.
An emergency room doctor who had been walking his dog on the beach joined them, looked at the wounds and advised the rescuers to keep applying pressure.
Finally, the ambulance arrived.
As paramedics hoisted the man in, Whiting tried to offer reassurance, telling him he was going to be OK.
The man thanked him so calmly that Whiting wondered if he was in shock.
He was rushed to a hospital and is expected to survive. On Monday, he was awake and smiling.
In the wake of the attack, lifeguards closed Del Mar Beach for 48 hours. Officials urged the public to remain calm.
The ocean is full of sharks, and they rarely hurt humans, said John Ugoretz, environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. When they do attack, it is probably because they mistake the human for prey such as a seal or sea lion, scientists theorize.
“Since 1950, there have been 215 incidents in California with sharks,” Ugoretz said. “That’s less than three a year.”
Among them were 16 fatalities.
“It is incredibly rare to even encounter a shark,” Ugoretz said. “You are far, far, far more likely to be stung by a stingray.”
One thing is true, Ugoretz said: Reports of shark encounters that do not result in injuries are way up, but he doesn’t blame the sharks for that.
“Two decades ago, if someone got bumped and wasn’t injured, they might tell their friends,” he said. “Now they tell the whole internet.”
State data show that shark interactions that did not result in injuries began climbing around 2004. Facebook was founded the same year.
Jonathan Edelbrock, Del Mar’s chief lifeguard and community services director, said the conditions Sunday may have been confusing for sharks.
The light was low and the water was cloudy, he said, similar to the last time a shark attacked a human off Del Mar Beach, in November 2022. That swimmer also survived.
Whiting doesn’t intend to let the incident keep him from the ocean. In fact, he said, some of the swimmers in his group are already planning to get back in the water, albeit at a different beach.
“We’re all passionate about being out in the ocean,” he said.
The fossil shark Ptychodus was first identified 190 years ago, but in the intervening centuries of paleontological inquiry, a comprehensive look at the ancient fish has been hard to come by. Until now. In a paper published last week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a team of researchers describe an exceptionally well-preserved Ptychodus, fossilized from its nose to the tip of its tail.
Studio Thought Seed of Chucky Was ‘Too Gay, Too Funny’
In their research, the paleontologists analyzed six near-complete Ptychodus specimens excavated from Vallecillo, Mexico, over the last decade. The specimens reveal the sharks’ skeletal components as well as their preserved body outlines. The team used the fossils to determine new information about the sharks’ anatomy and their place in the shark family tree.
“This new study provides crucial information on the affinities [evolutionary relations] and the paleoecology of Ptychodus,” said Romain Vullo, a paleontologist at the University of Rennes in France and lead author of the paper, in an email to Gizmodo. “So far, this Cretaceous shark was only known from isolated teeth, dentitions [sets of teeth], and a few skeletal elements such as vertebrae.”
“The complete specimens from Mexico reveal that Ptychodus was a fast-swimming open water shark (similar in shape to the living porbeagle), which likely used its grinding dentition to feed mostly on ammonites and sea turtles,” Vullo added.
In 2021, Vullo was the lead author on a paper describing Aquilolamna milarcae, a bizarre-looking Cretaceous era lamniform shark that was excavated from the same sweep of eastern Mexico. In the recent paper, the team also classified Ptychodus as a lamniform—a mackerel shark—and posit that the animal’s extinction may have occurred due to competition with mosasaurs, an extinct group of giant marine reptiles.
But the reality may be more complicated, as Tyler Greenfield, a paleontologist at the University of Wyoming, explained to Gizmodo. Instead of being a mackerel shark, Greenfield suggests Ptychodus belongs to an entirely different category.
A well-preserved fossil of Ptychodus.Photo: R. Vullo
“Sharks of the order Lamniformes have specific patterns of the sizes and shapes of the teeth, the hollow sections in the jaws that hold the rows of teeth, and the cartilage structures inside the vertebrae that Ptychodus does not have,” Greenfield, who is not affiliated with the new paper, wrote in an email. “Those features were overlooked by the authors of the new paper and they instead used certain characteristics of the cranium and jaws, which are not unique to lamniforms, to classify Ptychodus.”
Greenfield added that, based on similarities between Ptychodus and both Squalicorax and Ptychocorax (two other species of ancient shark), the shark family including Ptychodus and the one including the latter two species ought to be placed in a separate order, Anacoraciformes, or crow sharks.
“Anacoraciformes was named by other authors before me, but it has not been used as valid since then nor has it included ptychodontids until now,” Greenfield said, adding that the teeth built for crushing shelled prey would likely have evolved outside of Lamniformes. “Overall, my hypothesis seeks to build a more accurate picture of the relationships and diversity of prehistoric sharks,” Greenfield said.
One might assume that such immaculately preserved fossils would settle aspects of the shark’s phylogeny, not complicate it. But regardless of how the dust settles regarding Ptychodus’ classification, it is refreshing—and indeed, incredibly fortunate—that paleontologists have such well-preserved specimens to use in making their determinations.
A global shark census found in 2018 that the population of five main reef shark species, which are key to balancing the ecosystem of coral reefs, had declined 63%. Ben Tracy takes a look at a group working to protect these necessary predators.
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It’s spring cleaning season, but that doesn’t mean you need to get on the floor and scrub. Robot vacuums are a great way to keep your home clean while doing little to nothing, and a few robovacs from Shark are currently on sale. One of the best deals comes courtesy of a 44 percent discount on Shark’s AI Robot Vacuum and Mop. The device is down to $270 from $480 — only $20 more than its all-time low price.
Shark
Shark’s AI Robot Vacuum and Mop is a great option for anyone looking to try a robot vacuum or upgrade their entry-level model. It’s nearly identical to Shark’s much pricier Ultra 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop, which appears on our list of the best robot vacuums for 2024 — it just doesn’t have a self-emptying base.
The AI Robot Vacuum and Mop does have quite a few gadgets, including home mapping and AI laser navigation for detecting row-by-row precision and detecting objects four inches or taller. The mop executes 100 scrubs per minute and follows no-mop zones. You can use UltraClean mode on specific, busier rooms, with Shark claiming vacuum work 30 percent better at cleaning carpets in the setting.
After years of trailers, delays, controversy, and leaks, Rocksteady’s big, live-service, open-world, villain-themed, DC third-person looter shooter—Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League—is finally out (for real). The narrative that has formed around this game over the last few years has grown as large and epic as a superhero movie. Some folks want Suicide Squad to crash and burn. Others want it to succeed, hoping Rocksteady has built something amazing, a game worth their money and time. Sadly, as with many modern superhero films, the ending to this saga is anticlimactic and won’t appease either folks hungry for blood or hopeful for fun. Instead, what we have here is something decidedly middle-of-the-road.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice Leagueis not only developed by Rocksteady, the makers of the popular Arkham games, but also set in that same universe. The game takes place a few years after the end of Arkham Knight. Batman faked his death, joined up with the Justice League, and headed over to Metropolis to be super pals with Wonder Woman, Superman, Flash, and Green Lantern. Things were going well, until Brainiac and his alien minions arrived, mind-controlled all of them—except Wonder Woman—and turned the powerful heroes against their own planet. Now, it’s up to Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, King Shark, and Deadshot—DC supervillains with bombs implanted in their heads—to save the world by, well, as the game’s name implies, killing the Justice League.
While the Suicide Squad’s story never truly surprised me or broke any new ground in the superhero genre, it’s still a well-written comic book adventure with enough twists and turns to keep you hooked. It also helps that every character in the game, even those barely involved in the action, are fleshed out, with their own goals, flaws, personalities, and feelings.
WB Games / Gamespot
As you might expect, Harley, Deadshot, King Shark, and Boomerang get the biggest spotlight. Rocksteady has done a fantastic job not just visually capturing these characters with some of the best-looking faces I’ve seen this generation, but also making them feel distinct. Each character in the squad also has their own arc and they all intertwine throughout the game so that by the end I was totally on board with these loser misfits coming together to save the day. It also helps that their dialogue—both in the game’s gorgeous cutscenes and out in the open world during gameplay—is peppered with solid jokes and genuine moments of reflection and growth.
But boy howdy, is this game talkative! I lost count of the number of times when up to three different conversations were happening all at once, sometimes overlapping each other or completely blocking out important or interesting lore. To the game’s credit, I didn’t hear many repeated chats, but sadly, I also missed a lot of stuff because while the squad was chatting about one thing, I’d shoot a drone and trigger a conversation about something else, ending the one that was already happening. Still, even overlapping dialogue isn’t too bad. What is bad is almost everything else between the dialogue and cutscenes.
Over and over and over…
Suicide Squad’s main campaign features a strong and impressive intro that quickly establishes the “heroes,” explains how the team’s boss—Amanda Waller—controls them, and sets up the stakes of the invasion. This confident and perfectly paced first few hours instantly won me over. However, once the game opens up more and lets you loose in its digital city, things quickly go downhill. Do you like guarding locations, shooting crystals, or saving people? Well, I hope so, because that’s basically all this game is outside of the intro and a few boss fights.
The structure of Suicide Squad goes like this: You watch a cool cutscene, learn what the next step is in the plan to save the world, and then do a type of mission that you’ve already done before but maybe in a new location or with some new enemies. Maybe. Repeat that for about 15 to 20 hours depending on how much of the game’s side content you check out. (Though, be warned, all the side content in this game beyond Riddler challenges are the same types of missions you do in the main campaign.)
It’s a credit to Suicide Squad’s fantastic and satisfying combat that during most of these missions, I wasn’t bored out of my mind. But I’d be lying if I said I was having fun guarding the same plants or destroying the same crystals over and over and over again. At one point, I was tasked with escorting a slow-moving vehicle through a dangerous area. Normally, escort missions aren’t anything to celebrate, but it was a completely new type of mission, after 10 hours of play. I was pumped! And then that same type of mission popped back up multiple times afterward. (And yeah, escort missions still suck.)
Worse, Rocksteady seems to understand how boring this might be, so some missions add annoying modifiers that force players to complete missions in specific ways. The problem is that sometimes these mods—like enemies only dying to grenades—didn’t fit with my character’s build. While you can switch between all four playable villains at any point in the open world when playing solo, during missions you are stuck with whoever you started the mission as. This made some missions extremely frustrating.
It’s a shame because, as I said, the combat in this game is awesome. Top-notch shit. Guns feel dangerous and loud. Blasting purple alien monsters with a sniper rifle that sets them and nearby baddies on fire remained fun even after I did it 200 times. Also, shout-out to the shotguns in this game. They destroy enemies and feel incredible. I also enjoyed how mobile each squad member is, even the big tank-like character King Shark. Zipping around as a giant shark with a chaingun or flying around with a jetpack as Deadshot during big firefights is fun, even if I’m doing the same missions I’ve done a number of times before.
Screenshot: WB Games / Kotaku
There’s also a lot to dig into with the game’s combat system. There are elemental afflictions, various stats that can be modded, perks that can be unlocked, attributes to improve, ways to earn back your shield, ways to counter enemy attacks using precisely timed special moves, and a host of other things to keep in mind during and outside of fights. At times it can feel overwhelming and I imagine most players will pick a few strong guns, upgrade them when needed, and do fine. But for folks who like to really get into a game and craft perfect builds with tons of synergy, Suicide Squad provides more than enough options.
Funnily enough, for the most part, at least, you can ignore that Suicide Squad is a live-service, always-online shooter. I played through the entire game solo and, with one exception, didn’t run into any server disconnects. The game also doesn’t bang you over the head with messages telling you to “Hop Online And Play With Pals,” or lock any content behind having a clan or playing with others. For a long time, it felt to me like a decent-enough game with some live-service stuff I could engage with if I wanted to, but that didn’t really interfere with my experience at all.
Then I reached the end of the game, and things changed.
Suicide Squad hides its true identity until the end
Before the credits even rolled, as the game built toward a climactic encounter with Brainiac, I was told that, actually, there are 13 Brainiacs across the multiverse and I’ll need to kill all of them to save the day. To do this, players will need to engage in Suicide Squad’s endgame which consists of repeated missions and boss fights that award you a currency that lets you challenge new Brainiacs in different universes. When you arrive, guess what? You have to do a few more of those same missions you’ve been doing for hours and hours already before you get to fight Brainiac. Oh, and the final fight against Brainiac (spoilers) is a reskinned boss fight from earlier in the game against Flash. Womp womp. Credits roll.
Instead of ending on a triumphant note with our squad proving they are more than just dirtbags, Suicide Squad ends by going, “You need to play for months and months to truly finish your mission. Get ready to play even more of the same shit over and over again, too.” It robs the game of a dramatic, satisfying ending and reveals its true nature to all: This is a forever game. A live-service shooter. WB and Rocksteady want you to play this game for a long time, all the while hoping you buy up skins and battle passes to make this extremely expensive bet pay off. It’s an extremely sour note to end the game on.
Screenshot: WB Games / Kotaku
Sure, the combat is some of the best third-person shooter action I’ve played in years. And the story, cutscenes, and writing are as compelling as anything in the Arkham games.
Yet, unfortunately, Suicide Squad just had to be something bigger than another 12-15 hour single-player adventure. It had to be a live-service video game that could support months or even years of content. The game does a good job of hiding this fact for a large chunk of its runtime, but by the end, it’s laid bare and impossible to ignore. That’s assuming you even reach the end and don’t get bored by the same six missions being copied and pasted around the city to pad things out and make Suicide Squad feel bigger than it really is.
In the end, Suicide Squad is just…okay. Fine. Not amazing. Not a trainwreck. Folks wanting this game to be a complete disaster will be disappointed to discover a totally fine shooter that only succumbs to live-service corruption at the end. And for folks wanting something they can play for years, well, I hope you like shooting purple crystals over and over.
Suicide Squad is a poster child for the kind of games that live between great and awful. While that might be enough for some, I can’t imagine the devs who worked hard on Suicide Squad (or publisher WB, who footed the bill for the game) wanted it all to end with what amounts to a shrug emoji. Yet, here we are. At least the shotguns are cool.
A 39-year-old surfer died after a shark encounter in Maui on Saturday, officials in Hawaii said.
The man encountered the shark in Paia Bay around 11:10 a.m. local time, the Maui Fire Department said. Ocean Safety officers transported the wounded man to shore via a jet ski, according to the County of Maui Facebook page. He received treatment on the shore before being taken to a hospital, where he died.
The man has not yet been publicly identified.
Baldwin Beach Park and Lower Pā’ia Park were closed after the deadly encounter, and shark warning signs were posted from Tavares Bay to Baby Beach, authorities said.
Saturday’s attack was the only deadly shark encounter in Hawaii in 2023, though there have been more than a half dozen incidents involving sharks in Hawaii this year, according to the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources. On Dec. 8 last year, a snorkeler died in a shark attack.
Around 40 species of sharks live in the waters around Hawaii, but only about a dozen of the more than 300 species of sharks in the world have been involved in attacks on humans, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Tiger sharks are considered the most dangerous shark species in Hawaiian waters, according to the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Officials have not specified the type of shark involved in Saturday’s attack.
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
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An Australian woman is in stable condition with “extremely serious” head injuries after being bitten by a shark on Friday, officials said.
The 32-year-old woman was rushed to the Flinders Medical Centre near Adelaide by emergency services just after 1:00 p.m. local time Friday. Police evacuated swimmers from the ocean at Port Noarlunga Jetty to search for the shark, South Australia police said in a news statement, but were not able to locate it.
Australian authorities searched Wednesday for the remains of a 55-year-old surfer after a witness reportedly saw an attack by a large shark that “had his body in his mouth”.
There has been no trace of the victim since the marine predator struck Tuesday morning near the popular surfing spot of Granites Beach in South Australia, police said.
“The man’s body is yet to be found and the search resumed early this morning,” police said in a statement.
Witness describes the attack
A 70-year-old surfer at the scene when the attack happened, Ian Brophy, said he was about to enter the water when someone yelled: “Shark!”
“As I turned around, I saw the shark go and just launch and bite,” he told Adelaide’s The Advertiser newspaper.
Brophy said he saw the predator go “over the top of the guy and bite and drag him down under the water and then nothing for a minute or two and blood everywhere and then up pops the board”.
“I saw him in the wave and the shark had his body in his mouth — it was pretty gruesome,” he said.
Within a few minutes, there was no sign of the surfer’s body.
“It took every bit of him, I think.”
Shark said to be “length of a sedan”
Jeff Schmucker, a local resident, told national broadcaster ABC that he used his jet ski to help emergency services search for the surfer.
Schmucker said he went to the area of the attack and soon saw a great white shark “the length of a sedan car” — but he couldn’t be sure if it was the killer.
The number of shark bites has increased over the past four decades due to factors such as human population growth and climate change, according to shark expert Charlie Huveneers from Flinders University.
As oceans get warmer, ecosystems are being forced to adapt and sharks may be following their prey and moving closer to shores, where they are more likely to come into contact with humans.
Huveneers told Agence France-Presse sharks sometimes attack humans because they mistake them for their usual prey, but also due to curiosity, hunger, self-defence and aggression.
A Connecticut couple’s scuba diving trip in Rhode Island on Monday turned into a mission to rescue a baby shark.
Deb and Steve Dauphinais of Glastonbury, Connecticut, were diving on the sand flats off Jamestown, Rhode Island, when Deb Dauphinais spotted a 16-inch juvenile shark with its head stuck inside a work glove at the bottom of about 35 feet of water.
Deb Dauphinais, a dive instructor, said she thought the shark was dead, but when it twitched she motioned for her husband to come over and help.
This photo taken by Debra Dauphinais while diving with her husband off of Jamestown, Rhode Island, shows a baby shark stuck in a work glove, Sept. 11, 2023.
Deb Dauphinais/AP
“He came over and did his own little double-take,” she said.
She said her husband tugged on the glove, which seemed to be suctioned to the shark’s head, but it eventually popped free.
Deb Dauphinais said they were not afraid of being attacked by what appeared to be a juvenile Dogfish shark, but were cautious, in case it snapped at them.
“It kind of looked at both of us, didn’t look at all injured, got its equilibrium back and then swam off back to where it is supposed to be,” she said.
Deb Dauphinais, who has been an instructor for about 30 years, said this was not the first time she rescued a marine animal in distress. A few years ago she freed a black sea bass that was hooked on a discarded fishing line, she said.
“There are countless stories of underwater sea creatures being killed by underwater sea trash,” she said. “It’s an ongoing issue that’s near and dear to my heart. But these are the only times I’ve been able to save something, at least a shark, like that.”
According to the Marine Mammal Center, increased amounts of trash, especially plastics and fishing gear, are ending up in the ocean, “creating a threat of entanglement or ingestion for countless marine animals.”
Nearly 1,800 endangered marine animals have consumed or become entangled in plastic since 2009, according to a 2020 report.
