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A surfer was bitten by a shark while sitting on his board in the water near Corpus Christi. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that it happened around 11:30 a.m. on December 6th.
Friend of the surfer, Tommy Shilts, said, "There had been a lot of activity in the water the last few days. There's a lot of bait in the water, of course there's a lot of fish in the water, which means there's some sharks."
The surfer who was bit, named Jim, had paddled out from the shore and was sitting on his board. That's when something slammed into him. Shilts explained, "The shark hit him in the foot so hard that it lifted him off his board a little bit and he almost fell off."
It took Jim a moment to understand what was happening. Shilts said that he "stayed super calm and just started working his way toward shore."
When Jim made it back to the shore, Shilts took out his first aid kit and tended to the wound. A lifeguard then arrived and the surfer was taken to the hospital.
Shilts said, "He got lucky. I think we all know that's going to be a real tender foot for the net few weeks."
Despite his friend's close call, Shilts said he doesn't have any plans to stay out of the water. He said, "We surf in other countries a lot. There's sharkier places and bigger sharks in other places that we see. Here there's a lot of sharks but they're not super aggressive and (bites are) a very rare occurrence."
Since 1922, there have been 44 recorded instances of unprovoked shark attacks in Texas, according to the International Shark Attack File.