Peculiar circular and C-shaped injuries on a body from the sea.
A case where a body with unusual circular injuries was found in the sea is presented. The victim was a 60-year-old woman who had been depressed and had attempted suicide before. She was missing for 6 days before the corpse was found. The body had several almost perfectly circular injuries and C-shaped incision injuries with almost circular flaps of skin. We concluded that the cause of the peculiar circular injuries might be bite marks of Isistius spp. (I. brasiliensis and/or I. plutodus), commonly known as cookie-cutter shark because of its very unusual feeding style.
Makino
Yoko
Y
Department of Legal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan. makino@med.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
Tachihara
Katsunori
K
Ageda
Saori
S
Arao
Tomonori
T
Fuke
Chiaki
C
Miyazaki
Tetsuji
T
D000818:Animals; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012754:Sharks; D012867:Skin / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology*; D013405:Suicide