It was called in as a shark bite. But officials don’t know what bit a teen in the Keys
A 15-year-old boy was airlifted out of Key Largo on Saturday morning after his legs were bitten while he was lobstering off his family’s boat, state wildlife police said.
But officials don’t know what went after the teen.
“It could have been a barracuda or a shark,” said Officer Bobby Dube, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “I don’t know. It’s unconfirmed.”
At 7:31 a.m. Saturday, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call that a teenager was reportedly bitten by a shark. The agency’s spokesman put out a news release about a “reported shark bite.”
The teen was brought ashore at the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo and was flown out of the Keys by a Miami-Dade rescue helicopter.
He was bitten on his left calf and ankle and also on his upper right thigh, Dube said. On Saturday night he was in stable condition at Jackson South Medical Center in Kendall.
Even the teen can’t say what bit him, Dube said.
“He didn’t see anything,” Dube said. “The water was murky. Then it was bloody.”
FWC doesn’t investigate possible shark attacks, Dube said
“We do alligator bites and crocodile bites but not shark,” he said.
This story was originally published August 8, 2021 at 12:27 PM.
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