Surfers Find Shark-Bitten Body Off San Diego Coast

Lifeguards recovered the shark-bitten remains of a woman off Point Loma in San Diego, authorities said Saturday.

City lifeguard Lt. Brant Bass said two surfers reported finding the body about 200 yards off the popular Sunset Cliffs sunbathing beach shortly after 3 p.m. Friday.

The county coroner said the woman probably died as a result of shark bites but did not rule out that she may have been dead when attacked. “Without an eyewitness we won’t be able to discern whether the attack came before or after this woman’s death,” coroner Brian Blackbourne said.

The last shark-bitten body found in San Diego County was near La Jolla Cove in 1959. Bass said lifeguards have no plans to close or restrict access to Sunset Cliffs or other San Diego County beaches.

The woman is unidentified. She had a reddish-colored butterfly tattoo on her right shoulder.

Richard Rosenblatt, a marine biologist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla said that based on the woman’s wounds, it is likely she was attacked by a 12-foot-long great white shark.

He said the chance of a repeat attack is small.

“Sharks just don’t behave in real life the same way many of us have seen them in the ‘Jaws’ movies. More often than not they will be curious when encountering humans but not aggressive,” he said.

Although great whites are not as common off San Diego as they are in Northern California, other local species have teeth too small to account for the woman’s wounds, he said.