Mystery sharks mauling children just feet from US shores are exposed by disturbing new evidence

Shark attacks take place across the globe, and more have been caught on camera in recent years than at any other point in history, but many still leave the victims with the terrifying mystery of what type of shark attacked them.A trio of shark experts reviewed several incidents around the US, where cameras were recording as sharks chased down beachgoers and left them bloody and fighting for their lives to find clues which would reveal the species biting humans.Tom Hird, a marine biologist, said: 'Sharks hit fast, hit hard and get out of there, so it's difficult to tell what kind of shark it was.'To Hird's point, there were 25 confirmed shark attacks in US waters last year, but 15 of those involved a shark that witnesses could not identify, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.During a new special for Discovery's annual Shark Week, airing Thursday at 8pm ET, Hird and shark experts Kinga Philipps and Rosie Moore looked at four recent attacks in Florida, all involving children who were maimed by mystery sharks.In three of these bone-chilling incidents, the child lost a limb, and only one was able to have it successfully reattached.Moreover, all the shark attacks took place in relatively shallow water, just feet from the shore or a boat, and yet the predator still got away unseen. The first of these cases they looked at to see what shark attacked was the vicious biting incident of Jameson Reeder, who was just ten years old in August 2022 when a shark cost him his right leg. A bull shark swims in the ocean. The predator has been blamed for at least ten attacks in 2026 (Stock Image) Reeder lost his right leg when the shark attacked from behind as he was filming a turtle on a shallow reefReeder was with his family off the Florida Keys, filming himself chasing a turtle when he was viciously bitten by a shark from behind, tearing apart his right leg.The boy would need an amputation from the knee down. Reeder and his family noted that he continues to swim despite missing his leg. The shark that attacked was never seen.However, the experts looked at the boy's video taken as the attack began, forcing Reeder to drop his camera on the floor of a shallow reef.They spotted a tooth which they believed came from the shark's mouth during the attack.'It seems to have that slightly irregular edge that you'd see on bull sharks but also tiger sharks as well,' Hird said.The experts also caught a glimpse of a massive tail fin on the shark which attacked Reeder, noting that this was an incredibly large predator that was able to sneak up on the child in extremely shallow water.'We're talking a shark that's a minimum of ten feet in size,' Moore said. However, the final clue was spotted by Philipps, who saw the telltale indent in the animal's fin, leading her to believe the attacker was a bull shark. Jameson Reeder in 2022 moment before a shark attacked him off the coast of Florida Video of the attack of Jameson Reeder appeared to show a tooth from the attacking shark The video of the shark attack on Jameson Reeder also caught an image of the animal's finBull sharks thrive in temperate water and have been described as 'ambush predators.'They are the number one suspect in most of the world's shark attacks, and ten biting incidents have already been blamed on them in 2026, according to the Global Shark Attack File, a public database documenting cases as far back as the 1940s.Another bull shark is now believed to be responsible for an even bloodier attack on a teen girl along the Florida Panhandle in June 2024.Lulu Gribbin, who was just 15 at the time, was diving for sand dollars when a shark attacked near the shore of Seacrest Beach, biting off her left hand and right leg and causing her to lose roughly two-thirds of her blood.Bystanders believed it may have been a tiger shark, and Philipps said that the species has been strangely gathering at a point called Okaloosa Pier in recent years, just 33 miles from the attack.'There have been 32 tiger sharks sighted just from the pier, and this is right off the coast.' Philipps said. 'Why are they coming? Well, we think they're there because they're following the bait fish.'However, Philipps and Hird noted that these sharks are extremely well fed and there were no other tiger shark attacks reported, suggesting a different predator nearly killed Gribbin.The experts pointed out that there had been multiple reports of a shark in the area of Seacrest Beach right before the attack, all blamed on a nearby bull shark. In June 2024, a shark nearly killed teenager Lulu Gribbin at Florida's Seacrest Beach Shark experts believe a bull shark (Pictured) seen in the area hours before the attack was responsibleIn fact, the experts discovered video of a bull shark attacking a boat just hours before Gribbin was bitten.'They are known to kind of bully and chase,' Moore said. 'I think the species that's responsible for the Seacrest attack was definitely a bull shark.'The teen survived, but needed multiple surgeries and spent extensive time in hospitals for rehabilitation to learn to use prosthetics for the missing limbs.One shark attack survivor who luckily had their limb saved was Leah Lendel, who was just nine years old in June 2025 when a mystery shark bit off her right hand.The incident took place right along the shore of Florida's Boca Grande as she was in the water with her mother and siblings.Video and audio recordings from the shocking incident captured Lendel's mother sobbing as she told police how the shark left her daughter's arm dangling from her body.The child's hand would be successfully reattached, but eyewitnesses to the attack revealed shocking details of what happened as Lendel's family pulled her from the water.Experts noted that eyewitness Raynel Lugo had seen that the shark looked like a paddle board, had a round head and kept pursuing the girl as people pulled her from the water.Lugo added that the shark appeared to be seven or eight feet long. The experts believed these clues point to another bull shark attack because these predators patrol shallow waters and become very territorial when other creatures enter their waters. Leah Lendel was nine years old in 2025 when a shark attacked in shallow water and bit off her right handMeanwhile, an entirely different species is believed to have ambushed Doyle Nielsen from Georgia, who was just 16 when he was attacked in September 2021.The teen was on his board surfing near Florida's New Smyrna Beach - known as the shark attack capital of the world.Cameras captured the moment Nielsen was struck by a fast-moving shark that was seen stalking the local surfers, suffering a bite on his right arm needing nine stitches.Hird said that the video contained some very telling clues, including the strange sight of the shark seeming to leap and twist in the air as it bit Nielsen. 'This really is pointing towards a young spinner shark. It's got all the hallmarks. They're well known to play in the surf. It's got that spinning leap that people will see that is actually the key to the shark's own natural predation method,' Hird explained. Spinner sharks can grow up to eight feet long and have a unique corkscrew-like spin when they attack prey. Surfer Doyle Nielsen was caught on camera being attacked by a shark at Florida's New Smyrna Beach in 2021 Doyle Nielsen needed nine stitches to close the wounds of his shark bite Experts believe a spinner shark (Pictured) attacked Doyle NielsenThe Shark Week special also tackled a number of shark bite mysteries from around the globe, including savage attacks in Australia, Brazil and French Polynesia.Overall, the experts noted that there are over 500 species of sharks, and each has their own style when it comes to hunting and attacking prey.Despite the danger, Philipps said if there were no sharks to be the apex predator of the sea, the entire ocean ecosystem would collapse as marine life would be thrown out of balance.