Horrifying picture reveals brutal shark attack only yards from US beach days after woman loses arm

A SHARK has been spotted in a horrifying picture only yards from a US beach after a woman lost her arm in another attack just days before.

An onlooker discovered the shark mauling a seal while on a boat.

The sighting happened 400 yards from the short southern tip of North Beach in Cape Cod on September 5.

Just two days before this shark was spotted in Massachusetts, another shark attacked a woman in Hawaii.

On Saturday, the woman was discharged from the hospital after suffering from major injuries following a shark attack off the Maui coast on September 3.

The 51-year-old French woman who chose not to be identified was swimming roughly 100 feet from the coast of Paia Bay when she was "seriously" bitten.

Beachgoers had to bring the woman back to shore until emergency services could come and aid her.

When first responders arrived, they found much of her left arm missing and part of her right hand mauled off.

"I would assume it would be one tiger [shark] because I can't see a reef shark taking a whole arm off," Cary Kayama from Maui's Ocean Safety told MAUI NOW.

Kayama's friend, a diver, told him of an alleged 12-foot tiger shark sighting at a nearby reef, but acknowledged "it could be a coincidence."

SHARKS GONE WILD

This attack is one of the latest in a summer filled with gruesome shark bites.

Just last week, 58-year-old Caroline DiPlacido was snorkeling with her family in the Bahamas when she was mauled to death by a bull shark.

In late June, a teenage girl's leg was amputated after a shark attacked her while she was scalloping with her brother in Florida.

Along the coast in South Carolina, a woman had to get hundreds of stitches after a shark bit her arm, just feet away from her eight-year-old grandson.

A SHARK'S PREY

There are some preventative measures you can take when swimming if you are afraid of a shark bite.

Marine ecologist Dr. Neil Hammerschlag told The Independent that people should avoid swimming at times when a shark could mistake them for prey, such as at night or in murky waters.

"It can be hard for a shark to tell the difference between your hand or a fish,” Hammerschlag said.

Swimmers should also avoid areas where there is a lot of fish, such as where people are fishing.

"A fish that gets caught on a fishing line and is bleeding and struggling is a dinner bell to the shark.

"Many sharks seek out places where people fish in the hopes of catching an easy meal,” he warned.