Shark Week is here for its 38th year, and Florida is watching closer than most.
Scientists have identified more than 450 shark species, from the three-foot dwarf lanternshark to the whale shark, longer than a school bus. Only a handful of those species are behind the encounters that make headlines, but that hasn’t stopped Discovery Channel’s Shark Week from turning into a summer institution.
This year’s Shark Week 2026 brings a new slate of hosts and episodes. What actually happens during a shark bite?
Florida leads the nation in shark encounters
Florida has more coastline, warmer water and more beachgoers than almost anywhere else in the country, and it shows in the numbers. The state consistently records more unprovoked shark encounters than any other in the U.S., and more than most countries.
The odds of being bitten remain vanishingly small for the average beachgoer. But for survivors, the physical evidence lasts far longer than the encounter itself.
Anatomy of a shark bite and how it heals
What a bite looks like depends on the species and the circumstances. A shark’s lower teeth act like needle-sharp anchors, gripping prey in place, while serrated upper teeth shear through tissue; the combination leaves behind crescent-shaped arcs and jagged lacerations.
Most Florida encounters are quick “hit-and-run” strikes by smaller species like blacktips, resulting in localized puncture wounds rather than major tissue loss. Emergency responders focus first on stopping blood loss and warding off marine bacterial infection before surgeons move to reconstructive repair.
From there, healing is a long game: Wounds gradually convert to thick collagen scars and areas of lightened skin over months of physical therapy and tissue recovery.
Beach safety
Basic situational awareness does most of the work:
When is Shark Week 2026? How to watch
Shark Week kicked off July 26 and runs through 9 p.m. Aug. 1.
New episodes air nightly on the Discovery Channel starting at 8 p.m., with three each night. It’s also streaming on Discovery+ with a subscription, and on HBO Max.
Emmy Bailey is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida is shark bite capital of the world. See survivors of attacks
Reporting by Emmy Bailey and Jennifer Sangalang, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Emmy Bailey and Jennifer Sangalang, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
