A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year around 100 shark attacks are reported worldwide. Seventeen fatalities were recorded as having being caused by shark attacks in 2011, out of 118 recorded attacks. Despite their relative rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, and horror fiction and films such as the Jaws series. Almost all shark experts consider that the danger presented by sharks has been exaggerated. The creator of the Jaws phenomenon, Peter Benchley, attempted to dispel the myth of sharks being man-eating monsters in the years before his death. Contrary to popular belief, only a few sharks are dangerous to humans. Out of more than 480 shark species, only three are responsible for two-digit number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger and bull; however, the oceanic whitetip has probably killed many more castaways, not recorded in the statistics. These sharks, being large, powerful predators, may sometimes attack and kill people; however, they have all been filmed in open water by unprotected divers. The 2010 French film Oceans shows footage of humans swimming next to sharks deep in the ocean. It is possible that the sharks are able to sense the presence of unnatural elements on or about the divers, such as polyurethane diving suits and air tanks, which may lead them to accept temporary outsiders as more of a curiosity than prey. Uncostumed humans, however, such as those surfboarding, light snorkeling, or swimming, present a much greater area of open meaty flesh to carnivorous shark predators. In addition, the presence of even small traces of blood, recent minor abrasions, cuts, scrapes, or bruises, may convince sharks to attack a human in their environment. Some sharks such as the hammerhead shark seek out prey through electroreception, sensing the electric fields that are generated by all animals due to the activity of their nerves and muscles. Most of the oceanic whitetip shark's attacks have not been recorded, unlike the other three species mentioned above. Famed oceanographic researcher Jacques Cousteau described the oceanic whitetip as "the most dangerous of all sharks". Modern-day statistics show the oceanic whitetip shark as being seldom involved in unprovoked attacks. However, there have been a number of attacks involving this species, particularly during World War I and World War II. The oceanic whitetip lives in the open sea and rarely shows up near coasts, where most recorded incidents occur. During the world wars, many ship and aircraft disasters happened in the open ocean, and due to its former abundance, the oceanic whitetip was often the first species on site when such a disaster happened. Infamous examples of oceanic whitetip attacks include the sinking of the Nova Scotia, a British steamship carrying 1,000 people, that was sunk on 28 November 1942 near South Africa by a German submarine in World War II. Only 192 people survived, with many deaths attributed to the oceanic whitetip shark. The same species is probably responsible for many of the of the 60--80 or more shark casualties following the torpedoing of the USS Indianapolis on 30 July 1945. Tiger sharks may also have been involved. In addition to the four species responsible for a significant number of fatal attacks on humans, a number of other species have attacked humans without being provoked, and have on extremely rare occasions been responsible for a human death. This group includes the shortfin mako, hammerhead, Galapagos, gray reef, blacktip reef, lemon, silky, and blue sharks. These sharks are also large, powerful predators which can be provoked simply by being in the water at the wrong time and place, but they are normally considered less dangerous to humans than the previous group. A few other shark species do attack people every year, producing wounds that can potentially kill, but this occurs either specifically because they have been provoked, or through mistaken identity due to water conditions or the like. In the evening of 16 March 2009, a new addition was made to the list of sharks known to attack human beings. In a painful but not directly life-threatening incident, a long-distance swimmer crossing the Alenuihaha Channel between the islands of Hawai'i and Maui was attacked by a cookiecutter shark. The 2 bites, delivered about 15 seconds apart, were not immediately life-threatening. A great white shark is believed to be responsible for an attack on a swimmer at Muriwai Beach in Auckland, New Zealand in February 2013. It was the first confirmed shark attack fatality in the country since 1976.

• published: 13 Dec 2013
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