As a quick follow-up to today’s earlier story about the great white shark attack that wasn’t, here’s a brief interview with Paul Welsh, the man who was bitten by a wobbegong shark. Interestingly enough, this footage was shot between the time that Welsh was bitten by the wobbegong and the time that he was “rushed” to the hospital, as some media outlets reported. Despite several reports from various media outlets yesterday regarding a white shark attack, at no point does Welsh mention a great white shark, and it almost sounds as if his son mentions something about a “stingray” in the background, which a wobbegong could understandably be confused with (unlike confusing a great white shark with a wobbegong). Cheers to Mr. Welsh for his positive attitude, and here’s to a speedy recovery from his injuries.

After scores of media outlets reported a supposed “great white shark attack” yesterday, just north of Syndey’s Mona Vale Basin, a scientist has ruled out the claims that a white shark was involved and has identified the species involved as a wobbegong (a type of bottom-dwelling carpet shark), according to Australia’s ABC News. Wobbegongs are generally considered harmless toward humans, unless stepped on or antagonized. Paul Welsh was bitten by the wobbegong yesterday. He was treated for lacerations and then discharged from the hospital. A tooth fragment was recovered from his wounds at the hospital, which allowed for the positive identification of the species to be made.

While it doesn’t appear that the victim ever claimed to have been attacked by great white shark, at least one witness, Michael Brown (a “shark spotter”), made the rounds with the media suggesting that a 2m (6.5′) juvenile great white could have attacked the man. According to ABC News, Brown claimed that “the animal that bit Mr Welsh appeared to be a two-metre great white, by the look of its tail.” Brown also told the Herald Sun that Welsh grabbed a rock, he “was hanging on to the rock for grim death.” ABC News reports that Brown has a history of stirring up fears about sharks in Sydney and has accused the NSW Government of ignoring warning signs that shark populations were increasing in the area.

Steve Whan, NSW Primary Industries Minister, has called Brown’s integrity into question regarding his account of the incident and commented that one would not have to know much about sharks to distinguish a wobbegong from a great white.

By the way, this is wobbegong shark…

and this is a great white shark…

YouTube user, OperaJes, has posted a music video to an original song, Deep Blue, (apparently, composed by the YouTube user, aka JesVega) using raw footage of marine life from the European Space Agency’s multimedia library. The ESA and director Jacques Perrin teamed up to film the footage for the movie Oceans, which has already hit theaters in some European markets and will be released in U.S. theaters on April 22. Included in the montage of ESA clips is some excellent footage of a diver gracefully swimming side-by-side with a healthy-sized female great white shark.

Kip Evan’s documentary, Isla Holbox – Whale Shark Island, was recently debuted at the 2010 San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. The film focuses on whale sharks and the effects they’ve had on Isla Holbox as a result of the ecotourism industry created by their presence around the island during the months of June through September. Evans hopes to send a message that whale sharks need to be protected throughout their migration regions, as opposed to just in small marine reserve areas such as Isla Holbox, according to the Ocean Film Fest blog.

Footage from the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS) is making news in Australia’s The Courier-Mail. While The Courier-Mail article claims the video features a tiger shark “stalking” a sea snake, it certainly looks more like the tiger shark is “stalking” bait attached to the BRUVS unit, based on the footage. Regarldess, the footage (which appeared on the AIMS site back in August) is definitely worth a watch…

The Daily Mail and The Sun both featured articles reporting on a set photos of free-divers, William Winram and Pierre Frolla, seen diving with tiger sharks and great white sharks. The motivation behind the dives and the photos was to dispel myths about the two species. While neither The Sun nor The Daily Mail were able to get through either article without mentioning Jaws, both “news” sources remarkably did not get too over-the-top with their reports in comparison to how they both typically handle shark-related stories.

The entire photo set can be viewed at Hungry Eye Images. (I’d post some here, but I don’t have the budget to shell out cash for the licensing fees to use them on this blog.)

Sport Fishing with Dan Hernandez posted the video seen below on YouTube. This is what happens when you try to reel in a tuna at Isla de Guadalupe when there are white sharks around. They don’t call it the “Island of the Great White Shark” for nothing.

The Sun Sentinel is reporting that George Burgess, Florida Program for Shark Research Director, has determined that the species involved in yesterday’s fatal shark attack off Stuart Beach, FL was a member of the requiem family, which includes tiger sharks, bull sharks, blacktip sharks, and spinner sharks. Burgess examined the bite wounds on the victim and determined that an 8-9′ shark of the requiem family was responsible for the two fatal wounds. Burgess said his examination definitively ruled out the great white shark, a member of the Lamnidae family.

CBS12, this is not an award for outstanding journalism.

Another media outlet has their own great white shark related report regarding yesterday’s tragic attack off of Stuart, Florida. This one is has an even more misrepresentative headline than the Palm Beach Post “report” from earlier today. CBS12.com features a story with the headline, Expert: Great White Shark could have been behind fatal attack. The report features statements from Gary Gross, a biology professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University, who is quoted as saying, “Great whites in our area are very uncommon. They are mostly in deep waters where it’s colder. There has never been an attack here by a white shark.” In fact, the only other mention of white sharks by Professor Gross in the report deals with large sharks mistaking a kite surfer for a turtle, in which Gross is quoted as saying such a scenario is a “white shark situation.” However, Gross goes on to speculate that the attacking shark was “likely a bull shark.” (Currently, there is also no evidence to support or oppose the theory that the sharks involved in the attack were bull sharks.)

CBS12 really seems to be stretching things here. The headline suggests that Gross has indicated that he believes a white shark could be behind yesterday’s attack. However, the statements from Gross within the article suggest that he does not think that great white sharks were involved. Perhaps, a more representative headline would have read, Expert: Highly unlikely great white shark involved in attack. Of course, that might not draw nearly as much attention. It seems that media outlets have realized that great white sharks seem to draw more attention than other shark species, and the mass number of stories running with the great white shark theory (which isn’t backed up by any evidence in this particular case) just goes to show that sometimes the number of viewers/readers a story draws can overshadow truly objective reporting.

At the end of the day experts weighing in on the species involved or not involved is still nothing more than speculation, until some more details and evidence regarding the attack is available.

Great white sharks occasionally visit Florida waters this time of year. However, there is currently no evidence to suggest that the species was involved in yesterday's fatal attack.

After multiple media outlets ran reports earlier today suggesting the possibility of great white sharks being responsible for yesterday’s fatal shark attack off the coast of Stuart, Florida, the Sun Sentinel is reporting that Neil Hammerschlag of University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science said that it’s too blame great white sharks for the attack.

Hammerschlag said that while white sharks do occasionally visit Florida waters, a determination of the species involved in yesterday’s attack can not be determined without examining the victim’s wounds or unless witnesses were able to positively identify the attacking sharks. Hammerschlag also noted that any of several species could have been responsible for yesterday’s attack.