Yosvany Echevarria, a 46-year-old man from Hialeah, was snorkeling off Boca Chita Key in Biscayne Bay (near Miami, FL) late Saturday morning when what he described as a “white shark” lunged at him according to CBS News.
“We were swimming there by the beach. I was diving in the water and snorkeling, and a shark lunged at me, at my hands.”
“It was a white shark, but I don’t know what type of shark it was. He bit me here in my entire hand, like seven or eight bites, and I have 27 stitches in total. It was on my arm,” he told CBS News.
I first saw the “white shark” reference and looked into some of the comments and saw that part as a focus. so I thought I better get this out there before it starts being reported as a real-life Jaws incident.
I would be super shocked if this was a great white shark.
Here are the reasons.
- The victim said “It was a white shark, but I don’t know what type of shark it was.” He used “white shark” descriptively—meaning a light-colored shark—rather than identifying the species by name.
- The attack was described in shallow snorkeling waters off Boca Chita Key. While great whites can appear in the region, they are far less common in shallow bay or mangrove environments.
- The nature of the attack — multiple nips on the hand and arm rather than a full-force bite — suggests a smaller shark species rather than a large adult great white.
- Without visual confirmation or identification by a marine biologist, using the term “white shark” alone is not sufficient to classify the species; eyewitness reporting of color can easily be influenced by light, water clarity, or stress.
The social media rumors are based on a misunderstanding of his words rather than the facts of the attack.
On this blog we have had to correct numerous media stories about great whites as well as other sharks.
I thought I would get this out there as soon as I could incase the rumor mill really ramps up.
What happened to this snorkeler was very unfortunate. He was definitely attacked by a shark, but there’s almost zero chance it was a true white shark-as in a great white.
Chester Moore
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