Abstract
Five unprovoked shark attacks are reported from Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt, between 30 November and 5 December 2010. Three of the five attacks are attributed to an oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharinus longimanus with a distinctive crescent-shaped notch in the upper lobe of the caudal fin. The shark was observed during the first attack on a snorkeler and photographed underwater during the second shark attack on a swimmer. In a video taken several months prior to the attacks, the same shark is hand-fed underwater by a divemaster with additional fish in a pack over his buttock. The shark can be seen swimming behind the divemaster while he removed additional fish from this pack. In Victims 1, 2 and 5, the shark removed an extensive amount of tissue from the victims’ buttock. The three victims also lost a hand and/or a portion of their forearm, suggesting the injuries were inflicted by a shark conditioned to associating food with hand-feedings and the human form. The remaining two attacks, Cases 3 and 4, were attributable to the shortfin mako shark, Isurus oxyrinchus. This was determined from a unique dental pattern of the right side of the upper jaw due to a prior injury. This same “misalignment” dental pattern was observed in the injuries sustained by Victims 3 and 4. We conclude that the shortfin mako shark was responsible for the attacks on Victims 3 and 4, and the oceanic whitetip shark was the causal species of attacks on Victims 1, 2, and 5.
Highlights
The number of shark/human interactions reported annually worldwide to the Global Shark Attack File (GSAF) is insignificant when ocean user group populations are considered, i.e. surfing, swimming, diving, kayaking, to note a few
The chronology of the attacks was established, the medical records obtained from Sharm El-Sheikh Hospital were reviewed, and historical data on shark/human interactions in the Red Sea was obtained from the Global Shark Attack File in Princeton, New Jersey
There is a seawater corridor whose extreme depth enables pelagic sharks to come in close contact with a dense human population
Summary
The number of shark/human interactions reported annually worldwide to the Global Shark Attack File (GSAF) is insignificant when ocean user group populations are considered, i.e. surfing, swimming, diving, kayaking, to note a few. Unprovoked shark attacks are random events that are usually distributed sporadically over time and at varied locations There are those exceptions where multiple shark attacks have occurred at the same location over varying periods of time, from just a few minutes, to days or even years [1]-[9]. Conditioning sharks to specific feeding locations and/or images was experimentally undertaken in a captive enclosure more than fifty years ago [10]-[13]. These experiments demonstrated the ability of sharks to learn and remember specifics that were desirable for obtaining food under the laboratory parameters that were utilized. Cognitive ability in sharks has been described in the more recent past [14] [15]
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