NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 17-year-old surfer suffered a bite to his right foot today from a shark attack just after 9 this morning near the South Jetty that left him with a possibly ruptured tendon, authorities reported.
Ethan Fulton of Mims was being treated for the wounds and the more serious injury at Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach after being transported by EVAC.
The shark bite came after the youth finished riding out a wave in the area where sharks ad surfers converge -- the surfers because of the swirling currents and the sharks because of the plentiful bait-fish.
Two days earlier, 15-year-old Troy Zettle of Edgewater, was bitten on the left foot by a shark after he purposely stepped on it after it knocked him from his surfboard, Volusia County Beach Patrol officials reported. This incident was recorded by the Beach Patrol as a "provoked attack," the second such one of the 15 shark attacks.
The most sharks attacks recorded in one year in the New Smyrna Beach area was 21 back in 2001, dubbed the "Year of the Shark."
