Heading for a swim off the coast of Ibiza anytime soon? Well, you might be sharing the water with some sharks. Not one but two of the animals have been spotted at popular swimming spots on the Spanish island over the past week.
Yesterday a shark was filmed in the waters of the Sa Caleta bay, a beach on the south-west of the island renowned for its clear waters and white sandy beach. According to Metro, onlookers reported that the shark was two metres long and that it had likely been caught in fishing nets. After swimming in circles for a bit, it reportedly swam back out to sea.
Last Monday (May 16), a similarly lengthy shark was also spotted in Caló des Moro, a cove near the bay of Sant Antoni. That shark was reported to have a head wound, and was taken away in a boat.
It isn’t actually that uncommon to see sharks in the Mediterranean. The Med is home to 47 species of shark, including blue sharks, bull sharks and hammerheads. It is also incredibly rare for a shark to attack anyone. Only 52 attacks and 27 deaths from shark attacks have been recorded in Europe the last 250 years.
In general, of course, very, very few people get killed by sharks every year. Eleven people were killed globally by sharks in 2021, which is far fewer than the number killed by other things like hippos (which kill over 500 people every year), jellyfish (40) or deer (more than 100). Sharks just get a bad rep because of Jaws and, y’know, the whole pointy teeth look they’ve got going on.
In other words, these sightings are almost certainly nothing to worry about. But if you do happen to spot a particularly big shark while swimming? It’s probs still best to get out of the water.