Two children were bitten by what authorities suspect is a small shark or large fish while swimming in the Atlantic Ocean off Fire Island on Wednesday morning. 
 
 Suffolk County police confirmed that officers responded to reports of two people suffering bite wounds at Atlantique Beach and Sailor’s Haven, two beaches about four miles apart on the barrier island. Police said they were investigating what caused the bites. 
 
 Town of Islip officials said a 13-year-old boy was boogie boarding in Atlantique when he was wiped out on a wave, got out of the water and a lifeguard found he appeared to have a bite mark from small shark at around noon. Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) officials said a tooth was found “consistent with a large fish.” The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Marinue Bureau has not confirmed the incident as a shark bite, officials said. 
 
 “We figured it was a shark bite right away,” said Islip lifeguard Craig Amarando, who was among the first responders at Atlantique. 
 
 FINS said it closed the federal seashore’s beaches to swimming as a result. Islip closed the ocean beaches to swimming, too. Newsday reports Robert Moses State Park banned swimming as well. 
 
 Sailor’s Haven is operated by FINS, which reported that a 12-year-old girl was bitten shortly before noon. 
 
 “She was able to walk to shore with assistance from her caregiver,” FINS said in a statement. “There were bite marks on the victim consistent with a large fish. However, there was not a sighting of a shark in the area and the incident has not been confirmed as a shark bite.” 
 
 Both victims were treated at local hospitals for non-life threatening injuries. 
 
 “Both of these kids, thank God, are OK,” said Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter. “We’re seeing this as an opportunity to remind everyone, the water is beautiful…but the water can be treacherous. You need to be careful at all times.” 
 
 The last shark attack on LI was reportedly in 1948, one of seven in New York State since 1670, none of them fatal. 
 
 The worst case in Tri-state history involved five shark attacks that claimed four lives over 12 days along the Jersey Shore during a 1916 heat wave. 
 
 Related Story: Does Long Island Need a Shark Alert System? ||||| Shark Week, it seems, has started a little early, and New Jersey swimmers may want to keep their eyes open for fins. 
 
 That's because two children were possibly bitten by sharks Wednesday off the coast of Fire Island, Long Island. 
 
 Multiple reports said the possible attacks involve a 12-year-old girl who was bitten at Sailors Haven beach and a 13-year-old boy who was bitten while boogie boarding off Atlantique Beach around noon. The beaches are less than five miles apart. 
 
 Both children were bitten on the leg and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. 
 
 Officials promptly closed all Fire Island beaches. 
 
 A National Park Service spokesperson told Newsday that neither incident has been confirmed as a shark attack. However, a tooth was removed from the boy's leg and is being examined. 
 
 No sharks were sighted by officials in the area. 
 
 RT @fox5ny: BREAKING: Image shows bite marks from a possible shark attack in the waters off of Fire Island. https://t.co/7Z4ORImXsD pic.twitter.com/HrBzso92Oa -- Trixy Wh (@trixywh) July 18, 2018 
 
 Experts have said that the odds of getting bitten by a shark in the United States are 1 in 11.5 million, according to research from the Florida Museum of Natural History. The most shark attacks occur in Florida. 
 
 Cindy Claus, director of Jenkinson's Aquarium and a marine mammal expert said attacks are "extremely rare" but that if humans enter "their habitat, it's not totally unexpected for incidents like this to occur. 
 
 "If anything the sharks should be fearing us," Claus said. "We go swimming in their territory and their habitat." 
 
 Claus said she was not sure what type of shark may have been responsible for the bites. 
 
 She said reports like this should not deter people from going swimming, but she said people should always exercise caution and only swim at beaches with lifeguards and should not swim alone. 
 
 The last fatal shark attack in New Jersey was in August 1926, when an 18-year-old man was attacked in Seaside Heights, The Star-Ledger previously reported. 
 
 Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. ||||| The head of the state's Department of Environmental Conservation has been ordered to lead a multi-agency investigation into the near-simultaneous shark attacks on two children at Long Island shores about 4 1/2 miles apart, Gov. Cuomo said in a statement Thursday. Greg Cergol reports. 
 
 What to Know Two children were bitten by sharks in separate attacks off the shore of Fire Island, according to officials and the dad of one of the kids 
 
 Neither the 13-year-old boy nor the 12-year-old girl appeared to be seriously hurt in the attacks off of Atlantique Beach and Sailors Haven 
 
 The father of one of the girl said witnessing the attack was "pretty surreal;" a tooth pulled from the boy's leg was sent for species tests 
 
 UPDATE: Photo of Tooth Pulled From Boy's Leg Emerges; Multi-Agency Probe Launched Into NY Shark Attacks 
 
 A boy and a girl were bitten by sharks in separate attacks off Fire Island Wednesday, according to local officials and the father of one of the children. 
 
 A spokeswoman from the town of Islip said the 13-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl were bitten off the shores off Atlantique Beach and Sailors Haven -- two beaches about 4 1/2 miles apart -- around 11:15 a.m. 
 
 In the Atlantique Beach attack, the boy was boogie boarding when he was bitten, the spokeswoman said. He stumbled out of the ocean; a lifeguard ran to him and discovered the bite. 
 
 "We had him under our test and were administering first aid -- that's when we noticed the puncture wounds and we figured it was shark bite right away," said Craig Amarando, a town of Islip lifeguard. 
 
 The wound was dressed and cleaned, and responders found a tooth lodged in the child's leg. The tooth was removed and is being analyzed to determine the shark species. 
 
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 In the other attack, the girl, Lola, said she was waist-deep in the water off Sailors Haven. 
 
 "The water was cold, so I didn't really feel anything," she told reporters. "And then I saw something like next to me, and I kind of felt pain. And I looked and I saw, like, a fin, kind of. I don't know how to describe it." 
 
 "It was just like a quick kind of pull," she said later. "I was kind of in like shock, almost, 'cause it pulled and I kind of looked at it and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh." 
 
 Lola said she started running out of the water, and the shark started swimming away, "like a whirlpool-looking thing next to me." 
 
 She ran out to her mother with a bloody leg, and the two ran to the lifeguards, who bandaged it and helped them. 
 
 "I kind of thought it was a dream," she said. "I didn't really think it was actually happening until, like, I was just like, 'Well, this just happened.'" 
 
 Lola's father, Philip Pollina, said he was watching as his daughter was bitten. 
 
 "I couldn't process what was going on at first," he said. "You're just watching this happen, it's not competing until I saw her come out -- like, holy, I can't believe what just happened kind of thing." 
 
 Coincidentally, Lola is signed up to go to camp in several weeks at Atlantique Beach, where the boy was bitten Wednesday. Her mother says she's "gung-ho" to go. 
 
 "I'm fine," Lola said, adding that the bite wounds weren't painful. 
 
 14-Foot Shark Dies on Beach After Being Caught by Fisherman 
 
 A Texas fisherman in Corpus Cristi caught a 14-foot female Greater Hammerhead Shark on Saturday, which died after the fisherman took photos and measurements before trying to release her back into the water. (Published Tuesday, July 17, 2018) 
 
 Beach-goers saw what officials think was a sandbar shark -- a shark commonly found along the Atlantic Coast -- about 25 yards offshore. Adult sandbar sharks can grow to be up to 8 feet long, but the 12-year-old girl's father said she thought the shark was only about 2 feet long. Sandbar sharks are known for their large first dorsal fin, and the girl did report seeing a fin before she was attacked. She was able to walk after the attack, but was taken to a hospital. 
 
 "Once we figured it out it was pretty surreal," the father said. 
 
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 The town of Islip has banned swimming at all of its ocean-facing beaches. 
 
 "We're seeing this as an opportunity to remind everyone the water is beautiful, it is magnificent here on the South Shore of Long Island, but the water is treacherous," said Angie Carpenter, town supervisor. "We need to be careful at all times." 
 
 Fire Island beaches are managed by multiple local, state and federal jurisdictions. A spokeswoman for Fire Island National Seashore said all the beaches are closed until further notice as authorities investigate. 
 
 That spokeswoman, Elizabeth Rogers, also said the bite marks on both victims were found to be "consistent with a large fish," but authorities have "not confirmed" either case as a definitive shark bite. 
 
 Shark sightings aren't uncommon on Long Island or at the Jersey Shore, but unprovoked attacks are rare. Since 1837, only 10 shark attacks have been reported in New York. Fifteen have been reported in New Jersey and one in Connecticut. 
 

– After decades without a shark attack off Long Island, two children were bitten within minutes of each other on Wednesday. A 12-year-old girl was bitten around noon at Sailors Haven beach on Fire Island, a Long Island barrier island, and a 13-year-old boy was bitten at Atlantique beach, nearly 5 miles away, at around the same time, NJ.com reports. These are the first Long Island shark attacks since 1948, according to the Long Island Press. Neither child suffered life-threatening injuries, but all Fire Island beaches were closed until further notice as a precaution. The boy was out on his boogie board when he was bitten, authorities say. The bite left a tooth in the boy's leg, which was extracted and sent for analysis to find out what kind of shark it was. Witnesses believe it was a sandbar shark around 2 feet long. The girl says she was attacked when she was waist-deep in the water. The town of Islip has closed all its ocean-facing beaches. "We're seeing this as an opportunity to remind everyone the water is beautiful, it is magnificent here on the South Shore of Long Island, but the water is treacherous," town supervisor Angie Carpenter tells NBC 4. "We need to be careful at all times."