Man Bitten By Shark While Swimming At Crystal Beach

BOLIVAR, TX -- A 42-year-old man was bitten by a shark Thursday while swimming at Crystal Beach in Bolivar Peninsula, officials said. According to the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, the Alvin man was swimming off a sandbar when he was bitten above the left knee.

The injury was not life threatening and the man was taken to University of Texas Medical Branch hospital in Galveston for treatment. The man's name was not released.

Officials could not say what type of shark bit the man. Shark attacks or encounters with sharks where someone is bitten are rare in Galveston and along the Texas coast.

According to data from sharkattackdata.com, four people have suffered non-fatal bites by sharks between 2013-2016. There was a spike in shark encounters in 2011 when five people were bitten.

The last time anyone was bitten by a shark in Galveston was in 2016 when a 6-year-old girl was bitten by a three-foot shark as she waded in shallow water on Pirate’s Beach.

No one has been killed by a shark in Texas since 1962, according to the data.

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