Shark Bites Man Near San Onofre

John Mark Regan believes that a six-foot Mako shark bit him Sunday afternoon because it mistook him, in his all-black wet suit, for a seal.

“In the animal kingdom there is no such thing as an experimental gourmet,” Regan, 31, a medical technician from Westminster, said three hours after the attack while limping on the boat ramp with his pants leg still bloody. “(That shark) took one bite and (as soon as he realized I was human) took off.”

Regan was not seriously injured in the attack, which occurred about 3:30 p.m. Sunday 100 feet off the surf line near San Onofre as he snorkled in 15 feet of water while two friends fished from the trio’s 17-foot aluminum skiff.

Earlier, he said, he had noticed something swimming in the water near the boat but had mistakenly thought that it was a seal.

Suddenly, he said, he felt a pair of jaws grab his right calf from behind. “There was no pain at all,” he said. “It was very fast and painless.”

The shark attack left 10 tiny puncture wounds, but Regan refused medical treatment.