On Tuesday, July 16, at about 12:10 P.M., 29-year-old Anika Craney got bitten by a 2-meter bronze whaler shark while swimming at Fitzroy Island near Cairns, Queensland.
On her day off, Ms. Craney and her colleague decided to swim to shore to see the island. It was then that she suddenly felt something sink its teeth deep into her leg.
Following the emergency, she was flown to Cairns Hospital, where she is expected to have surgery for a fracture on her left ankle.
Sources say that as she was being wheeled into the emergency room, she was heard yelling "I still love sharks. Sharks are beautiful".
Shark attacks in Fitzroy Island are very uncommon. However, within the last ten days, there have been two other attacks in Far North Queensland.
The attack follows an attack on a 15-year-old surfer Mani Hart-Deville, who was killed by a shark on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales on Saturday.
Earlier on July 4, spearfisher, Matthew Tratt was also killed by a shark off Fraser Island.
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True Shark Lover
Despite going through the horrifying attack, Ms. Craney, who works as a deckhand, still remains passionate about the ocean and the creatures that live in it.
She was seen smiling as she held a book about sharks from her hospital bed. Her social media page shows a picture of her swimming dressed as a mermaid.
The Courier Mail reported that Dean Cropp, the captain of the Barefoot II vessel, said that Ms. Craney was a capable freediver.
Furthermore, she is part of a seven-member crew working on the Barefoot II vessel. The crew is currently creating a series on marine life and posting it on YouTube.
Gareth Phillips, a Reef Teach marine biologist, said it was very unlikely that the attack came from a shark.
He says that the description of Ms. Craney's wounds were not similar to the number of shark attacks he's seen in his career. Furthermore, he says that there is a strong chance that the bites were instead likely to be from a giant trevally or a red snapper.
What is a Bronze Whaler?
Scientifically known as Carcharhinus brachyurus, the bronze whaler shark gets its name from its bronzy-grey to olive-green color. The shark species dwell in temperate rather than tropical waters.
They can be seen throughout different parts of the world, but their distribution is quite spotty. The species appear to have regionally isolated populations that have little exchange between them.
According to Sharksider, bronze whaler sharks can grow up to 11 feet long. While they do not have any distinctive marks, they do have a highly prominent ridge right between their dorsal fins.
Moreover, this recognizable ridge is bronze in color. Their teeth are also a little different than other sharks, as theirs are hook-shaped and narrow.
Bronze whaler sharks are not friendly to humans. However, they usually don't harm anyone unless they sense that food or prey is close by.
The sharks mostly feed on cartilaginous fish, small bony fish, and other cephalopods. It is also known to feed on ray fish and smaller sharks quite frequently.
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