Teen bitten by shark at North Topsail Beach

A 14-year-old boy was bitten by a shark at North Topsail Beach on Sunday, police said.

The teen was bitten around 12:30 p.m. at 484 New River Inlet Road, near Beach Access No. 4 in Onslow County.

“We heard a lot of commotion and everybody yelling, ‘get out of the water! Shark, shark!” said Chasity Keeter, a witness at the beach. “It was really scary.

“We don’t go far out in the water, but we’ve seen people swimming and having a good time. People want to have fun, but you still have to be vigilant.”

Two officers and EMS were already at the scene responding to a distress call when the incident occurred. Bystanders had already begun applying pressure to the wound. Officers applied a tourniquet and crews transported the teen to Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune for treatment.

“We just kept our distance, but I took picture of everybody out of the water,” Keeter said. “Paramedics were on scene really quickly … thank God they were there that fast.”

Officers said the wound appeared to have been from a small shark. An incident report was not made and the teen’s name was not released.

The beach resumed normal activities following the incident.

UNCW marine biology professor shares what people need to know about shark bites, shark attacks and beach safety

University of North Carolina Wilmington marine biology professor Lawrence Cahoon spoke with WRAL News about why shark attacks are rare. He explained

“Sharks have different sensory systems that they use to detect prey,” Cahoon said. “And, we humans rely on vision and hearing to find our way through the air.

“Sharks rely far more on their sense of hearing than we realize.”

Cahoon said sharks are able hear low-frequency sounds. He said sharks can hear humans swimming or walking in water more than a half mile away.

“Low-frequency sound is transmitted very well in seawater,” Cahoon said.

Cahoon said sharks can take bites of people and realize that it isn’t part of their normal diet.

“They’ll take a bite of something they think is interesting and realize, ‘Oh, no. That’s not food. That’s not normal,’ and they leave,” Cahoon said. “And so, you’ll get one bite and that’s bad enough.

“They have very sharp teeth. Then, they leave you alone.”

Cahoon said there are situations where shark attacks are more serious where they take more than one bite. He said in 2015, North Carolina had eight shark attacks in a three-week span.

“About half of those were single bites, mistaken identity,” Cahoon said. “The others were much more deliberate attacks, and we suspect that the culprits might have been bull sharks.”

Cahoon said bull sharks are cousins to great white sharks.

“Shark attacks, again, are very rare,” Cahoon said. “The one species that we probably need to be most aware of in our water, if that’s possible, is the bull shark. They’re common in North Carolina coastal waters, but most of the sharks, in general, will not bother humans.”

For more tips on how to avoid a shark bite or a shark attack, click here.