An unusually high number of people were bitten by sharks in early July near New York.
Prior to last year, New York had a very low number of shark bites, according to the Florida Museum International Shark Attack File.
While the localized spike is unusual, the total number of unprovoked shark bites worldwide has averaged about 74 per year.
Why sharks bite humansThere are roughly 520 species of sharks, according to the University of Florida.
"Shark bites are a function of the number of sharks, but also the number of humans in the water," he said.
Persons:
WYFF, they'd, Catherine Macdonald, Yannis Papastamatiou, we're, Macdonald, Papastamatiou, There's
Organizations:
Service, Hilton, NPR, Florida, University of Miami, University of Florida, Florida International University, Florida Museum
Locations:
New York, Wall, Silicon, Island , South Carolina, Long, New, Australia, California