Great White Attacks Rare, Says Aquarist

Surfers spotted a mutilated common dolphin at the Redondo Breakwall on Thursday afternoon, prompting speculation that it could be the result of a great white shark attack, according to an article in the Easy Reader.

The Easy Reader quoted Dave Janinger of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum as saying the dolphin had died within 24 hours, and the bite could have come from a great white shark.

Nevertheless, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Chief Aquarist Jeff Landesman said it's rare for a healthy dolphin to be attacked by a great white, as dolphins are fast swimmers who tend to stick together, and the sharks rely on the element of surprise. With dolphins' ability to track objects in the water through their sonar-like echolocation, it would be difficult for a great white to ambush a single dolphin.

"A healthy dolphin … probably would not have been tracked down by a white shark," he said.

If the dolphin was unhealthy and had died of something else out in the open water, however, opportunistic blue or mako sharks may have taken a bite out of it, Landesman said.

"(The dolphin) could have been prey for a number of large predators if it was already dead," he said.

[Updated March 28: Dr. Chris Lowe, who runs Cal State University Long Beach's Sharklab, concurred with Landesman's conclusions.

"It's unlikely that an adult white shark ... is going to be able to get a healthy dolphin," he said. He added that if it was an adult shark that killed it, the dolphin may have been weak or already injured, and the shark took advantage of the situation.

After viewing the Easy Reader's photos, Lowe said the bite marks appeared smaller than those of an adult great white shark. In fact, he said, it looked as though something took one large bite out of it, and something else took several smaller bites.]

Furthermore, Landesman said great white shark attacks in southern California are "almost nonexistent."

"It's very, very unlikely that we would have any problems with white sharks," he said.

Northern California has a higher concentration of great white sharks because they have larger populations of seals and sea lions, the sharks' preferred prey.

"Southern California is a very safe place," he said.

In fact, a person's chances of getting struck by lightning, dying from a bee sting, or getting hit by a falling airplane part all outweigh the chances of getting attacked by a shark, Landesman said.

According to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File, there have been only four unprovoked shark attacks in Los Angeles County since 1926, and none of them were fatal.