Analysis of human remains recovered from a shark

Trauma caused by marine scavengers and predators, especially sharks, is not well known. This paper describes the effect of shark attack on human remains. They were found in the stomach of a tiger shark caught by fishermen near Hollywood Beach, Florida. The remains belonged to a white male in his late twenties or early thirties with a stature of 175 cm. The damages to the skeleton and the association of these damages with the behaviours of tiger sharks is also analyzed. The trauma affecting long bones are circular punctures around the epiphyseal ends. Other changes include unique crescent shape grooves horizontal to the shaft of the bone. Although all of the bones are affected, none of them is fractured or crushed, suggesting that the body parts are first dismembered and then swallowed and digested.