Many of these bites were likely from juvenile blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus), which are still learning to distinguish between humans and their natural prey like fish and stingrays.

Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, noted that the lower numbers of shark encounters in 2024 could simply represent a statistical fluctuation.

Not a tall tale! U.S. saw a massive drop in the number of unprovoked shark attacks in the last year - The number of global unprovoked bites are down by nearly half from last year ...

This is likely due to the number of juvenile sharks in the area. It is also a known breeding ground for blacktip sharks. “Some years see an increase in bites, followed by periods of decline in ...

A rare juvenile spinner shark (the individual not ... he suspected it was either a spinner shark (Carcharhinus brevipinna) or a blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus). Either identification ...

Many of the shark bites in Volusia County were likely from juvenile blacktip sharks. Young sharks probably do not yet distinguish well between humans and their natural prey, such as fish ...