The 23-year-old woman bitten Sunday by a nurse shark in Boca Raton, Florida, was snorkeling for the first time when a spooked 2-foot shark sank its teeth into her right forearm, according to her friend.
Alex Smoake was with the woman, whom he declined to name but was identified by NBC 6 as Shaylen Borkowski, and two other friends at Red Reef Park when the encounter took place. Smoake said the friends were snorkeling for the first time after moving to south Florida a few months ago.
“There was a bunch of little kids around the reef poking around looking under the rocks,” Smoake said. “One of the sharks got frightened and swam out. When it turned directions, my female friend was in the way and it latched onto her arm.”
Smoake said the group attempted to “pry” the shark off the woman’s arm but were unable to do so. When they emerged from the water, the nurse shark remained attached to her arm, unable or unwilling to release its bite.
The woman was taken to Boca Raton Regional Hospital for treatment, then released. Smoake said his friend did not need stitches but the shark “tore her skin up pretty good.”
Beachgoers said they saw at least one person antagonizing the shark by holding its tail, according to news reports.
Smoake said he and his friends were not in that group.
“First time snorkeling — we’re not going to go messing with sharks,” Smoake said. “It’s the last thing we’re going to do.”
Nurse sharks are generally harmless to humans, experts say.
There is no shortage of videos on YouTube showing swimmers petting the slow-moving, bottom-dwelling sharks or grabbing them by the tail.
"People are playing with fire," warns George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida. "They're docile and make easy marks for people who want to treat them like a dog. But, if they get pissed off, they'll bite. And, many times, they won't let go."
Nurse sharks are common off the coast of Florida and can reach 13 feet in length, but are typically about 7 feet long.
According to International Shark Attack File records, there are only 10 cases in history of a confirmed unprovoked attack on a human by a nurse shark. That’s compared to 314 unprovoked attacks by great whites.
Nurse sharks are the "couch potato" of the shark world, according to the National Park Service. But they have exceedingly strong jaws and thousands of razor sharp teeth.
“It can make human flesh into hamburger,” said Burgess, adding that a mouthful of bacteria in the nurse shark can lead to nasty infections for its bite victims.
Burgess said he knows of “at least three or four cases” where a nurse shark latched onto a human and didn’t let go even after it was pulled out of the water.
Burgess said his advice to swimmers is to “leave nurse sharks alone.”
“Take a picture if you want to, but no one should go grabbing it by its tail or provoking it in any way,” Burgess said. “Harassing it isn’t the smartest thing to do. It’s like grabbing a bull by the tail. You can file most of these bites under ‘S’ for stupid human tricks.”
Smoake said he and his friends were minding their business and the woman was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“People get attacked by creatures that wouldn’t attack people normally, but that (stuff) happens,” Smoake said.
There were 30 shark bites off the coast of Florida in 2015, according to the International Shark Attack File.
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