Incident Report
Young Swimmer Bitten by Small Shark in Townsville
A 12-year-old boy suffered a minor ankle bite from a small shark while in the water at Townsville, Queensland. The incident occurred on January 17, 1946, and the youth recovered from his injuries.
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Incident Profile
Environmental
Individual
Location
Description
On January 17, 1946, a 12-year-old male swimmer was bitten on the ankle by a small shark near Townsville, Queensland, Australia, in waters off the Coral Sea. The exact circumstances surrounding the encounter remain undocumented in available records, including the specific activity the youth was engaged in at the time of the incident. The bite was classified as minor in severity, and the victim made a full recovery. The shark species was not definitively identified, described only as "a small shark" in historical documentation. This incident was recorded in the Global Shark Accident File and has been referenced in scholarly works on shark incidents, including Gilbert P. Whitley's 1951 publication and Victor M. Coppleson's 1958 study on shark attack cases in Australia. The full moon phase occurred the day following the incident, on January 18, 1946.