Update:The coast was clear at Huntington Beach today, as the 24-hour shark sighting closure ended.

A busy stretch of ocean was shut down in Huntington Beach Friday morning through 8 a.m. Saturday after a surfer reported getting bumped by a shark – an encounter lifeguards classify as “aggressive“ behavior.

The Huntington Beach incident happened at 8:45 a.m. near Beach Boulevard and the surfer, who is not being identified by lifeguards, went to Huntington Beach City lifeguard headquarters to inform lifeguards of the encounter. He was not injured.

“I interviewed him. He’s a local guy; we’ve seen him here for years,” said Huntington Beach Marine Safety Lt. Claude Panis. “He’s seen sharks, he doesn’t get too freaked out. But this one bumped him, and he saw it swim away.”

The shark was about 5-to 8-feet long and came up from under the board and bumped the right side as the surfer sat waiting for a wave. The beach was closed at about 11:30 a.m. a mile north of Beach Boulevard, to the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier, and a mile south of Beach Boulevard into Huntington State Beach. North of the Huntington Pier remained open.

It’s the first time Huntington Beach lifeguards have closed the ocean to beachgoers after a shark encounter.

Lifeguards posted beach closure signs and told swimmers and surfers to get out of the water by using lifeguards on personal watercrafts and a rescue boat. They did not do an announcement on their loudspeaker.

“We didn’t want to scare people, but we wanted to tell people to go in (to the beach),” Panis said.

The Huntington Beach Police helicopter also scoured the area from above for the shark.

Great white sharks have been spotted regularly for the past few months, but most sightings have resulted in warning signs alerting people of their presence, and there has been no reported physical contact with beachgoers. Mostly, they have been spotted in the Sunset Beach and Surfside area, where a group of juveniles have been feeding on stingrays, experts believe.

They’ve yet to show interest in beachgoers, though people in recent weeks have been paddling around the sharks, even taking photos with them. Lifeguards advise against this, noting that they are wild and unpredictable animals.

Huntington Beach lifeguards use a matrix to determine what is “aggressive behavior” by sharks. It includes repeated circling, bumping or opening its mouth over and over, or “gaping.”

Panis said lifeguards at Sunset Beach have seen them breaching out of the water in the past week.

“These are juveniles, I think they are just testing what they can do,” he said.

The beach is expected to be re-opened by 8 a.m. Saturday. Panis notes that the sand area is open, and the closure only applies to the water.

“The beach is still open for all the land activities,” he said. “All other summer-time activities are still going on.”

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com