Man bitten by shark at Aigua Blanca beach in Oliva on the Costa Blanca

Three beaches were closed in the Costa Blanca on Thursday (August 17^th), after a man was bitten by a blue shark while swimming in the sea at a beach near the town of Oliva, on the Valencian coast. This very rare incident happened at Aigua Blanca beach and the injured man was only in water that came up to his knees when he “saw a shadow and felt something hit my left leg and then a bite to my right foot”.

After seeing he was bleeding, the resident of Oliva calmly got out of the sea and saw he was injured, so made his way to the local Oliva Health Centre without realising what had actually happened to him.

Medics that treated the injury on the side of his foot and administered a dose of the tetanus vaccine, said that it was not possible to stitch his wounds because they were inflicted by a living being, and could possibly become infected.

After taking photographs of the teeth marks on the man’s foot, the medical staff proceeded to check what type of creature could leave that bite mark, and quickly determined they were caused by a blue shark.

As a result of the bite, the Oliva Council immediately ordered the closure of three local beaches of Aigua Blanca, Rabdells, and Aigua Morta, and sent out patrols that quickly spotted the shark in the area. Surveillance was later expanded along the entire coastline to monitor the shark’s movements and ensure that it had gone.

On Friday morning, the Council decided to reopen the beaches after confirming that the shark was no longer in the area.

Blue sharks are not known for attacking humans and are one of the most common shark species across the planet. It is not unusual to spot these creatures in the coastal waters of Spain and the Balearics and on average are spotted close to the shore between four and six times a year.

Jaime Penadés, a biologist from the Oceanogràfic Foundation explained that if the shark was swimming in shallow water then it indicates that: “it must be disoriented since it is unusual for them to be crawling through the sand, it is not their natural environment”.

He also explained that what happened was not an attack but more of an interaction between the animal and the human, a bit like a puppy snapping.

This type of shark rarely sees humans as prey because it is a meso predator and feeds on small fish and squid.