A man in Florida was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition after being bitten by a shark Friday morning.

At around 11:15 a.m., the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office responded to a distress call and found the victim on the boat bleeding heavily from the bite. A sheriff’s deputy boarded the vessel and applied a tourniquet. 

The man had caught the shark before it attacked him, police said.

“When he got it up out of the water, it lunged and grabbed a hold of his forearm. Which had a pretty bad bite and lost a lot of blood. So he’s in serious condition,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper told Jacksonville NBC affiliate WTLV-TV.

The man in his 40s was bitten on his right forearm, Sheriff Leeper said, according to the Jacksonville, Florida Times-Union. 

The unnamed victim was subsequently airlifted in critical condition, and NCSO added in a post on X that he is expected to recover.

Authorities did not say what type of shark attacked the victim. If it is found to be unprovoked, it would only be the ninth such incident in Nassau County since 1882, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

Earlier this month, sharks injured three people in two separate attacks in Walton County, which borders Nassau County.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.