15-year-old boy in Sanibel victim of possible shark bite

A 15-year-old boy was taken to a hospital Friday afternoon after a possible shark bite on Sanibel Island, police said.

The boy was in the water, near the Dosinia Condominiums at 3339 West Gulf Drive, when he was bitten on the top of his foot at about 4:11 p.m., said Sanibel Police Sgt. Anthony Thompson.

He said the boy's injury was about three-inches long.

"He was wading in the water, about thigh high, up to his knees," Thompson said. "It's a possible shark bite. We haven't confirmed it. There were no witnesses."

The boy, a tourist who was visiting a family in the area, was taken by ambulance to a hospital with his parents, Thompson said, adding that he could not say where the boy was from or what hospital he was taken to because the boy is a juvenile.

Sharks do populate the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of Florida, but fatal shark attacks are rare. Thompson said the last bite off Sanibel Island was about five years ago, but it was minor.