With Shark Week approaching I am most often asked what shark or sharks do I think is responsible for the 1916 attacks. I really thought I knew the answer, and was ready to publish a book on the subject. I have conducted research that no one has published before. It shows a new timeline for the attacks as to when and where they took place. It really all added up to a the original conclusions of the book Shadows in the Sea being correct. It was my opinion that the attacks started in Atlantic City with the last attacks taking place near Coney Island. It took in new evidence from these four added incidents and really supported the lone Great White theory. It was further of my opinion that the shark was killed in Long Island Sound a week after the last attack. I was pretty ready to publish, but a fly kept coming back in the ointment, the Matawan attack location. I started to try to rule Bull Sharks out of the equation, but to my chagrin kept finding more and more evidence of Bull Shark activity in the area. To top it off lots of physical evidence came to my attention of historical Bull Shark activity in NY and NJ. So I am again back to the start with two lines of inquiry. One includes the Great White. It starts in South Carolina and ends in Long Island Sound. The second involves some highly aggressive Bull Sharks on the East Coast of Florida and ends in Raritan Bay. It is clear I am not ready to publish until I can clear one of the species from the attacks. It is still a biological mystery worthy of investigation. This photo shows ten juvenile Great Whites caught within sight of shore at Sandy Hook, If I had to guess the Great White is the responsible just as Shadows of the Sea concluded, but there is still no smoking gun.
Biological Mysteries of the Jersey Shore 