Expert Identifies Shark In Fatal Attack

Teeth Marks and Description Consistent With White Shark

Surf Beach, Vandenberg AFB - October 25th, 2010

After conferring with a renowned shark expert, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau says it’s likely that a White Shark was responsible for last Friday’s deadly attack off Surf Beach that claimed the life of a UCSB college student.

Ralph Collier, President of the Shark Research Committee and author of “Shark Attacks of the 20th Century” met with the Coroner’s detective conducting the death investigation this afternoon. The Coroner’s detective briefed Mr. Collier on his findings and allowed the shark expert to examine the victim’s wound, the boogie board, and fragments of a shark tooth.

Based on witness accounts, facts gathered by the Sheriff’s Coroner’s investigation, and measuring the distance between teeth marks on the boogie board, Mr. Collier said it’s likely that the White Shark (more popularly known as a Great White Shark) was 17-18 feet long and possibly weighing 4,000 pounds.

The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau last investigated a fatal shark attack in December, 1994 when a scuba diver was killed off San Miguel Island. There are no other records of shark attack deaths investigated by the Sheriff’s Coroner’s Bureau. Collier says there have only been 12 authenticated fatal shark attacks on the west coast of the United States since 1950.

Business Hours: (805) 681-4100
EMAIL:pio@sbsheriff.org