[californiadisasters] Shark in Fatal Attack Identified as a Great White

Shark in fatal attack identified as a great white

By Catherine Saillant
Los Angeles Times
October 25, 2010 |  6:31 pm

After conferring with a shark expert, Santa Barbara County coroner's officials today identified the shark that killed 19-year-old college student Lucas Ransom as a great white.

Ralph Collier, president of the Shark Research Committee, determined that the UC Santa Barbara junior was killed by a great white shark measuring 17 to 18 feet long and weighing 4,000 pounds. Ransom was attacked as he surfed with a friend Friday on a beach near Lompoc.

Collier's finding is based on witness accounts, Ransom's wound and a gaping, foot-wide bite mark left in his bodyboard, coroner's officials said. Authorities also said that they had recovered fragments of a shark's tooth.

Collier is a well-known shark expert and author of "Shark Attacks of the 20th Century." He said there have been only 12 authenticated fatal shark attacks along the West Coast since the 1950s.

Ransom's family is planning a memorial and paddle-out to the ocean Thursday to honor their son.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/10/shark-in-fatal-attack-identified-as-a-great-white.html

--
Check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
Read our blog at http://eclecticarcania.blogspot.com/
Visit me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/derkimster

__._,_.___

Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___