Texas beach-goers shocked when woman reels in shark

May 10 (UPI) -- Astonished beach-goers in Texas said they rushed to evacuate the water when a large fish at the end of a woman's line turned out to be a shark.

Attalia Borden said he started to film Saturday when a woman fishing from shore at the Galveston beach started to reel in what appeared to be a large fish.

"Everybody starts screaming 'get out of the water, get out of the water. I said 'what kind of fish do they have?' I see this dude pulling a shark out by the tail and it's my length," Borden told KRIV-TV.

The shark, which appeared to be a blacktip shark, was caught close to where several people were swimming.

Chief Peter Davis of the Galveston Beach Patrol said the area where the shark was caught is not a designated swimming area. He said there have been about 10 shark bites reported in his 35 years on the job.

"It's very unlikely that you're going to get bit by a shark when you come to the beach here, but it does make sense to take reasonable precautions," Davis told KHOU-TV.

"One of the main things we tell people is don't swim in the middle of schooling fish, because it could be a case of mistaken identity -- shark's eating the fish and bites a hand by accident," Davis said.

Borden said he plans to return to the beach, but he won't be going into the water again.

"I'm not messing with no sharks," Borden said. "I hardly even mess with Galveston water, so they were lucky they saw it when they saw it. I'm going to leave the sharks for TV."