Shark bites teen in Ponce Inlet, 5th confirmed attack this year in Volusia County

PONCE INLET, Fla. — Beach safety officials confirmed a 14-year-old boy was bitten by a shark Monday in Ponce Inlet.

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The Flagler Beach teen was running in thigh-deep water when he was bitten in the right calf.

Officials believe the teen was bitten by a 4-to-5-foot blacktip shark.

The attack happened 200 meters north of the Ponce Inlet jetty in the 4900 block of South The Beach.

The teen received minimal injuries, officials said.

Read: Surfer Tamayo Perry dies in apparent shark attack off the coast of Oahu

This attack comes after an Ohio man was bitten by a shark in New Smyrna Beach on the Fourth of July.

A shark also bit another person in New Smyrna Beach the next day.

Monday’s incident marks the 5th confirmed shark attack in Volusia County so far this year.

Connor Baker said a shark latched onto his foot in News Smyrna Beach on the Fourth of July as he played football in knee-deep water.

First responders raced to the beach near Flagler Avenue to help Baker.

Watch: Man describes shark attack at New Smyrna Beach over holiday weekend

“I saw my foot and I could see, like I could see the bite on my foot,” Baker said. “And I could see blood come out dripping off my foot. That’s when it really hit like, oh, it was legit a bite. I wasn’t just overreacting, I got bit.”

Channel 9 spoke with Dr. Gavin Naylor, the Director of the Florida Program for Shark Research in Gainesville.

“The number of bites we’ve had for the middle of July is right on trend, right in the middle,” Naylor said.

Naylor said most of these incidents are caused by low water visibility and mistaken identity.

“When they’re chasing bait fish, the bait fish are very close in the water and they see somebody’s foot on a surfboard, or paddling, they see a flash of light skin, and they bite it,” Dr. Naylor said.

Read: 3 people injured in separate shark attacks along Florida’s Gulf Coast

He said those bites are a lot less likely than some may think.

“You’re about 200 times less likely to be bitten by a shark than you are to drown in the ocean,” Dr. Naylor said. “Drowning is a much bigger problem. Riptides are a much bigger problem than shark bites.”

One of last week’s shark bite victims did have their bite swabbed by Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue.

That swab will be sent off for testing to help ocean rescue learn what type of shark it was and why it may have bitten that person.

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