A British tourist has suffered severe damage to his right leg after being bitten by a Shark while snorkeling in the Galapagos Islands. London-based businessman Andrew Phipps Newman, 45, originally from South Africa, suffered a broken bone and several severed ligaments after the Shark seized him by one foot off Santa Fe Island. The animal broke off its attack after being punched repeatedly on the nose, allowing Mr Phipps Newman to be pulled from the water into a boat, where he was treated by a doctor, Kathryn Gilbert, 27, also on holiday from the UK, during a three hour trip to the nearest hospital.
British tourist Andrew Phipps Newman recovering after being bitten by a Shark in the Galapagos Islands. Andrew Newman.
The attack is thought to have been carried out by a Galapagos Shark, Carcharhinus galapagensis, a large species of Requiem Shark, Carcharhinidae, which, despite its name, is found around tropical island and reefs in all the world's oceans. Galapagos Sharks typically feed on small Fish and Cephalopods (Squid and Octopus), but larger members of the species can be more adventurous, and will attack other Sharks and Marine Mammals. Shark attacks on Humans are extremely rare, with only eight such events recorded in Ecuadorian waters since records began in 1952.
A Galapagos Shark, Carcharhinus galapagensis, in the northwest Hawaiian Islands. Dwayne Meadows/NOAA.
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