Cal Fire and California State Park officials report that a 58-year-old woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital Sunday afternoon after she received a non-life threatening shark bite to her lower leg in about a foot of water at Trinidad State Beach in Humboldt County.
State Park Officials reported that the juvenile “Salmon Shark” roughly 3 feet in length, was in the shallow surf near the shore and was apparently washing ashore repeatedly.
According to witnesses, the woman was standing in the surf zone attempting to get a photo of the shark as it was struggling in the surf. Witnesses also stated that more than one, perhaps up to a half dozen of juvenile salmon sharks were in the surf at the time and as the surf pushed the sharks into the shallows the woman was inadvertently injured by the struggling shark.
Salmon sharks average 6.5 to 8-ft in length but can grow to over 10 feet in length. They are common in the area and according to local ocean kayak enthusiast Jason Self, owner of “Kayak Trinidad”, this breaching behavior from juvenile Salmon Sharks is quite common and occurs every year.
Park officials were actively keeping onlookers from being injured as Biologists from Humboldt State University Marine Lab were called to the scene to observe and document the unusual behavior.
Special thanks to Jason Self of Kayak Trinidad.
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