VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Four people have been bitten while swimming in the the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach over the last week.
After looking at a picture of one of the victim’s injuries, there’s no doubt in Skylar Snowden’s mind that it was a shark bite.
“Yeah, that looks like, pretty clearly a shark,” Snowden said.
Snowden is the senior curator of fishes, invertebrate and herpetology at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center so, she knows sharks.
In the ocean off of Virginia Beach, she said we have sandbar sharks, tiger sharks, black tip sharks, and bull sharks. There’s no telling which sunk its teeth into the 10-year-old last week, but Snowden is sure it didn’t mean any harm.
“Almost everybody that gets bit by sharks survives,” she said. “There’s a reason for that. It’s because the shark realizes after one bite that it’s made a mistake.”
It may be our own mistakes, she said, inviting the sharks to us. Here’s what Snowden says not to do:
- Don’t swim at dusk or dawn — the sharks’ prime feeding time.
- Don’t wear shiny watches or jewelry — sharks may mistake for a fish scale.
- Don’t wear swimwear with bright contrasts such as black and white or orange and black — that will stand out to sharks.
- Don’t swim near schools of fish or dolphins
“Dolphins are not as innocent as everybody makes them out to be, that’s for sure,” Snowden said.
Dolphins and other marine life can bite or sting too.
If you’re walking on the ocean floor do what’s called the “stingray shuffle.” Shuffling your feet creates vibrations in the sand which signal the stingrays to scram. Also, keep your eye out for jellyfish, and of course, sharks.
“If you see one coming towards you, the best reaction is no reaction so stay completely calm,” she said.
Perhaps easier said then done, but remember you’re not what they’re after.
“If we were truly on the sharks’ menu, we would never go in the water,” Snowden said. “We wouldn’t stand a chance.”