While shark attacks in the Mediterranean are extremely rare, sharks are more common to its waters than you might think.

A beach in Benidorm was closed this week after a boy was bitten by what may have been a shark, although experts have cast doubt on whether one was actually involved. “The nature of the wound shown in media coverage points to something other than a shark being responsible,” said John Richardson of the Shark Trust. He speculated that it could possibly have been a barracuda.

Nonetheless, a 30-year-old woman was bitten by a tiger shark in the same spot last summer.

Also in 2014, swimming was banned, and tourists warned to be on their guard, at popular beaches in the south of France and Corsica for several days after blue sharks were seen in shallow waters in July.

But blue sharks very rarely attack humans, and only nine attacks on humans have been recorded – almost all against divers who were spearfishing and had attached dead fish to their belts.

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Blue sharks very rarely attack humans, and only nine attacks on humans have been recorded ? almost all against divers who were spearfishing and had attached dead fish to their belts. Photo: Alamy

More dangerous are great whites, who have been blamed for the odd attack on tourists off the coast of Italy, although there have apparently only been 10 sightings in the last 30 years. A photo which some thought to be a young great white near Magaluf last year was said by others to most likely be a large tuna.

The Med is actually thought to contain around 47 different species of shark, including the fearsome great white.

Some are deep-sea species, commonly found at depths greater than 200m, meaning only researchers and commercial fishermen are likely to encounter them.

“Others range from the filter-feeding basking shark – reaching up to 12m in length, to the shortfin mako – the fastest shark in the ocean, as well as hammerheads, threshers, catsharks and dogfish,” said Mr Richardson.

“But as in many other parts of the world, Mediterranean shark populations face a growing barrage of threats – including overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction. Consequently a number of species are now listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List – meaning they have an elevated risk of extinction in the Mediterranean.

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"This includes the blue shark. Thought to be one of the most abundant sharks on the planet – and a seasonal visitor to British waters – it was recently upgraded to Critically Endangered in the region.“

The US has historically had the most shark attacks in the world, with 1,999 recorded since the year 1900, according to statistics on the website SharkAttackData.com. Australia follows as the next most deadly nation for shark attacks, with 1,237.

In Europe, Italy has had the most recorded shark attacks. Surprisingly, perhaps, the UK comes next, with a total of 38 attacks since 1900, followed by Spain with 33. The majority of the UK incidents were provoked however - cases of fishermen getting bitten while trying to unhook a shark they have just caught, or fishermen getting bitten on the boot by a shark at the bottom of a boat etc.

These aren’t great numbers but there are enough sharks in UK waters for the Wildlife Trusts to campaign for the creation of a marine protected area at The Manacles in Cornwall, where there is “very good evidence (from Seaquest South West and the Marine Strandings Network) that this is one of the UK’s basking shark hotspots.”

Video shot in Cornwall last year shows one such shark swimming past a snorkeller with its mouth gaping open.

Basking sharks, some up to 8m long, are also occasionally sighted in waters around the Isle of Man.

Where most shark attacks have occurred in Europe

European country

Number of shark attacks since 1900

Number of fatal attacks

Italy

50

11

UK

38

0

Spain

33

7

Croatia

25

12

Greece

24

13

France

10

3

Portugal

8

1

Malta

5

3

Russia

4

0

Montenegro

3

2



The sharks found in the Mediterranean

Angelshark

Angular roughshark

Atlantic catshark

Basking shark

Bigeye sixgill shark

Bigeye thresher (below)

What sharks do you find in the Mediterranean?

Bignose shark

Blackmouth catshark

Blackspot smoothhound

Blacktip reef shark

Blacktip shark

Blue shark

Bluntnose sixgill shark

Bramble shark

Bronze whaler shark (below)

What sharks do you find in the Mediterranean?

Dusky shark

Great hammerhead (below)

What sharks do you find in the Mediterranean?

Great white shark

Gulper shark

Kitefin shark

Little gulper Shark

Little sleeper shark

Longfin mako

Longnose spurdog

Milk shark

Nursehound

Oceanic Whitetip Shark (below)

What sharks do you find in the Mediterranean?

Porbeagle shark

Portugese dogfish

Sandbar shark

Sandtiger shark (below)

What sharks do you find in the Mediterranean?

Sawback angelshark

Scalloped hammerhead

Sharpnose sevengill shark

Shortfin mako

Shortnose spurdog

Smallspotted catshark

Smalltooth sandtiger Shark

Smooth hammerhead

Smoothback angelshark

Smoothhound

Spinner shark

Spiny Dogfish

Starry smoothhound

Thresher shark

Tope shark

Velvet belly lanternshark

The above is based on data collected by the Shark Trust.