The unexpected attack suffered by the sports journalist Eleonora Boi —It’s Italian Baloncellist Danilo Gallinarireinforcement of Bayamon jeans in it National Superior Basketball (BSN) – While enjoying the waters of the Carolina spahas aroused concern and intensified speculation about the animal that would have caused the bite.
He Fisheries Research Laboratory of the Natural and Environmental Resources Department (DRNA), located in Cabo redHe received biological samples taken from one of the 39 -year -old woman’s legs, who is also pregnant. The analysis seeks to accurately identify the marine species, and thus confirm or rule out whether it was the bite of a shark.
“Our experts are analyzing the sample and we hope to have an accurate result of what happened between Tuesday and Wednesday of next week,” Drna’s secretary said, Waldemar Quiles Pérezwho stressed that, from the moment the notification of the incident, the body of vigilantes and the technical personnel acted with releasing.
Hypothesis about the person responsible for the attack
Although DRNA awaits for the results of the analysis, Boi alleged in a publication on his social networks that it was a shark attack.
“I would never have thought that it could be attacked by a shark, and over while it was close to the shore on a super busy beach,” said the woman, putting under magnifying glass a phenomenon that, although extreme rare on the island, is not impossible.
But what types of sharks inhabit the waters of Puerto Rico? What are the most common species in the area? How frequent are shark attacks or bites on the island? What human behaviors can trigger an aggression? The biologist Nilda Jiménez MarreroCoordinator of the DRNA Protected Species Program, He answered these and other frequent questions.
“It is extremely important to keep calm. The area where the incident occurred is an area historically used by people, frequently, every day and, which I remember, this type of incident had not been given (which is under investigation). So it is not something that we think will happen frequently or that it is a danger to bathers. It looks like an isolated incident,” he said.
He reiterated that the samples will be analyzed to determine the marine organism. Therefore, at the moment it has not been confirmed that it is a shark, as the woman alleged in her social networks. “I do not know what circumstances it happened, but they should keep calm … it does not seem to be something further, but an isolated incident,” he said.
Frequent shark species
Jiménez Marrero explained that there are many shark species that frequent the island. He added, however, that the possibility of being attacked by one of these marine predators while enjoying a beach day is extremely low. Despite the image that often projects popular culture, especially in films, he said that these attacks are extremely rare.
“Species of sharks on the island, we have many. What they call the Reef Sharkhe Blacktipwe have hammer sharks, the Gata Shark. There are many shark species that are very frequent in Puerto Rico. They are inhabitants of our coast. As the citizen is normally on the beach, he is often not aware of all the species we have, ”said Jiménez Marrero.
According to data published by the Ecoexploretory, Puerto Rico Science Museum, locally, there are just over 20 shark species.
Precisely, Jiménez Marrero stressed that on the coasts and reefs you can not only find sharks, but many other marine species. “We enjoy having a diversity of shark species, and they are not rare. It is not strange to have; on the contrary, a healthy reef has to have sharks,” said the biologist, when abounding on incidents with sharks on the island.
In that sense, he mentioned that “shark attacks in Puerto Rico are very rare and, generally, are associated – or the incidents that most listen to sometimes – are with fishermen, and it is because they bring fishing and (then the sharks attack) to the fishing bag. That is, attacks as well as people, as sometimes they are heard in other parts of the world, they are very rare (in Puerto Rico)”.
Why the attacks occur
Jiménez Marrero explained that, when an incident occurs between a shark and a human being, it is usually due to some kind of confusion, the location of the person or simply the curiosity of the animal, Well, these species do not usually feed on humans. “It is not an attack of a shark that is on the way to attacking a person to eat it,” he told this medium.
“The image is that created the ‘Jaws’ movie. Something like that, which I know, we do not have it registered in Puerto Rico. That kind of attacks. What has occurred perhaps in the past has been accidental. An incident for the circumstances in which they were and I do not remember when it was the last one, it tended, because, again, they are very rare, ”said Jiménez Marrero.
He International Shark Attack File of the Florida Natural History Museum, which collects this type of data since 1990, has documented 11 incidents in Puerto Rico classified as not caused attacks; That is, encounters in which the person did not perform any action that could attract or disturb the animal.
Meanwhile, the eco -exploratory indicates that, in Puerto Rico, at least two fatalities have been documented For shark attacks, being the last in 1924.
“When these incidents occur, it is generally because the water was cloudy, due to the type of behavior of the person, or by splashing in the water, which can cause a confusion in which the shark perceives that what it has in front of it is perhaps a fish or one of its usual prey. Many times, once it realizes, it releases, and does not end eating the person,” said Jiménez Marrero.
“That is what is seen in other parts of the world, where there is an attack, but the person survives. Obviously, it will have injuries, because when the shark bites and realizes that it is not its prey, it releases. It can also occur if the person interacts intentionally with the shark; in that case, the animal, when trying to defend itself, can bite,” he added coordinator of the DRNA Protected Species Program.
He explained that sharks generally feed on other fish, although there are some that consume other marine organisms. He added that sharks, because of the way they capture the dam, help the reefs remain healthy because they eliminate those fish that perhaps are sick, which serves to have a healthy ecosystem. “They maintain a balance, but generally feed on fish in the Caribbean,” he said.