A great white shark bites a swimmer off Gray Whale Beach, near Pacifica; male victim in serious condition

A great white shark bit a swimmer off Gray Whale Cove State Beach just south of Pacifica, leaving the man in serious condition, officials said on Saturday.

The bite victim, a 35-year-old man, was swimming in the Pacific Ocean off San Mateo County when he was bitten in his right leg around 9:15 a.m. by the shark, estimated to be 6 to 8 feet long.

“The man was able to swim to shore and medical help was called,” the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet, and he was taken to Stanford Hospital.

Firefighters said the man was in serious illness when he was taken to the trauma center and treated with advanced resuscitation measures.

The incident occurred a mile north of Montara along the windy stretch of Route 1 known as the Devil’s Slide. The beach was ordered closed.

The attacking shark was probably a juvenile, judging by its size. Great white sharks, also known as white sharks, are typically 4 to 5 feet long at birth and are considered juveniles until they are around 10 feet long, when they are mature, according to the state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. They can grow up to 21 feet long.

A white shark captured off Point Vicente, near Los Angeles County’s Palos Verdes Peninsula, in 1986 was 17.6 feet long and weighed 4,140 pounds, the state said.

Shark attacks are extremely rare in California, according to the state. There have been 76 documented shark attacks resulting in injury since 1950 in California. That’s less than two shark attacks a year that have caused injuries over the past 71 years.

The northern part of Monterey Bay suffered its first death in May 2020 when local businessman and surfboard shaper Ben Kelly was bitten in the knee while surfing near Manresa State Beach in Aptos. This shark was estimated to be a much larger subadult in the 10 to 12 foot range.

The state tally shows Kelly is so far the only shark to die in California in the 2020s. There were two in the 2010s; three in the 2000s; one in the 90s and three in the 80s.

“Scientists consider southern California to be a nursery for white sharks. Gravid sharks probably give birth in the relatively calm, warmer waters offshore and juvenile sharks spend a lot of time in shallow water, ”the Ministry of Fisheries and Wildlife said. “Juveniles feed on abundant stingrays and other small fish during periods of warm water. As they grow and mature, sharks move to other areas and cooler waters, where seals and sea lions are more abundant. “

Great white sharks are one of the ocean’s top predators and play an important role in the ecosystem by eating seals and sea lions, according to the state. Authorities say juvenile white sharks are often seen in shallow waters near the southern California coast, especially in the summer and when the ocean water is warm.

“There is only one guaranteed method to avoid a shark attack: stay out of the ocean,” the state said on its website. “Scientists agree that most attacks by white sharks on humans are unintentional – the shark mistakes the person for a seal or a sea lion. Swimming in areas where sharks are present is not recommended. white sharks have been observed feeding on marine mammals.

A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports indicated that there had been an increase in the number of juvenile white sharks seen in Monterey Bay, about 60 miles southeast of the site of Saturday’s shark attack. .

Further south, in Southern California, recent drone footage has shown that the presence of juvenile sharks is quite normal, and for much of the year they are found along the California coast of San Diego at Point Conception in Santa Barbara County.

Most surfers have long considered it unlikely that a great white shark would hunt on surf spots. But the advent of drone photography has devoured that notion, showing how often human swimmers and surfers come close to sharks. Yet few attacks occur, demonstrating the extraordinarily low risk.

Notably, even as more and more people have taken to surfing in California over the decades – surfing, swimming and scuba diving – shark attacks have not increased proportionally, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Times writer Joe Mozingo contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.