| P O R T H O L E : 17 May 16

A WOMAN in Boca Raton,
Florida will surely be avoiding
the ocean for some time after
she was taken to hospital for a
shark bite, with the sea beast
still attached to her arm.
The two-foot nurse shark was
killed before firefighters arrived
at the scene, but they were
unable to remove it.
Nurse sharks can grow to nine
feet and have a bite reflex which
mean once quietly re-immersed,
it may be some minutes before
it will relax and release its
tormenter.
“Knowingly or not, people
swim near nurse sharks every
day without incident,” the
National Park Service says.
“Attacks on humans are rare
but not unknown and a clamping
bite typically results from a diver
or fisherman antagonizing the
shark with hook, spear, net, or
hand.”