--- description: It's possible the shark was a great white title: Surfer Bitten By Shark in California image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Surfer Bitten By Shark in California by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 29, 2014 3:21 PM CUT by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 29, 2014 3:21 PM CUT A man was recovering in hospital on Monday after he was attacked by an eight to 10-foot long young shark while surfing in Sand Spit Beach in Montana De Oro State Park in California. The man, who remains unidentified, was attacked around 11:30 a.m on Sunday and bitten on his right hip. The size and appearance of the bite marks on the surf board, are indicative of a young great white shark, [the Los Angeles _Times_ reports](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-surfer-slow-attack-survive-20141229-story.html "undefined"). [Friends of the surfer say](http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/12/28/3417291%5Fshark-bites-surfer-slo-county.html?sp=/99/100/&rh=1 "undefined") the shark appeared to swim up from depth and attack the board and then dragged the surfer under water. The man was able to paddle himself to shore with the help of friends who called 911. Officials say the man is expected to survive the attack. \[[Los Angeles _Times_](http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-82413610/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3648427/surfer-bitten-by-shark-in-california/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3648427/surfer-bitten-by-shark-in-california/"},"headline":"Surfer Bitten By Shark in California","datePublished":"2014-12-29T15:21:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:09:31.756Z","description":"It's possible the shark was a great white","url":"https://time.com/3648427/surfer-bitten-by-shark-in-california/","keywords":["California","Accident","Ocean","Surfing","shark","shark attack"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3648427/surfer-bitten-by-shark-in-california/","name":"Surfer Bitten By Shark in California"}}]}] ```