Mel Ismail, a surfer from Geraldton in Western Australia, lost a leg after a shark bit him at Glenfield Beach, just north of the city, in mid-September 2026. Speaking publicly for the first time on 8 October, he described jabbing at the animal’s eye as he tried to fight it off, and said the shark appeared to wink back at him before it took his leg.
That detail is what sent the story around the world. It is also the part most worth slowing down on.
What happened at Glenfield
Ismail was surfing when the shark struck. A fellow surfer paddled towards him rather than away, and helped get him back to shore, where he was treated before being taken to hospital. His leg could not be saved. Local authorities closed nearby beaches while they assessed the area, the standard response in Western Australia after a bite.
It was a difficult month on that coast. Days later, a swimmer was killed by a shark at Sorrento Beach in Perth’s northern suburbs, and several Perth beaches stayed shut for days afterwards.
The species involved in Ismail’s case has not, as far as public statements show, been formally confirmed. White sharks and tiger sharks both occur off Western Australia’s mid-west coast, and both are large enough to cause injuries of this kind. Until the state’s shark specialists say otherwise, it is best treated as unknown.
About that “wink”
Sharks do not wink in any social sense. What Ismail most likely saw was the shark protecting its eye at the moment of attack, the very eye he was hitting.
Many shark species, tiger sharks among them, have a nictitating membrane: a tough third eyelid that slides across the eye as the shark closes on prey that might scratch or thrash. White sharks lack that membrane and instead roll the eyeball backwards in its socket, showing a white surface. From a few centimetres away, in churning water and under extreme stress, either movement could easily read as a wink.
The reflex itself tells you something useful. A shark guards its eyes because they are vulnerable, which is why striking the eyes and gills is the advice most often given to anyone who cannot get away. Ismail did exactly that. It did not prevent a serious injury, but fighting back is credited in many survivor accounts with making a shark let go.
If a shark comes close
Bites remain rare given how many people use Australian beaches, and most sharks that approach a swimmer or surfer move on. The guidance published by Australia’s state shark-safety programmes runs broadly along these lines:
- Stay calm and keep the shark in sight; turning your back makes it harder to react.
- Head for shore or a boat steadily, without wild splashing.
- Keep your board, a fin or anything solid between you and the animal.
- If it bites or keeps coming, fight back hard, aiming at the eyes, gills and snout.
- Once out of the water, stop the bleeding immediately with firm pressure or a tourniquet and call emergency services.
Prevention matters more than any of that. Avoid surfing alone, at dawn and dusk, in murky water, or near schools of bait fish, seals or dead whales. In Western Australia, the SharkSmart service posts recent sightings and beach closures, and is worth checking before every paddle-out on that coast.
Further reading
Image: Loomhigh223555, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. How we work.
