Long Beach shark sightings have beachgoers on edge

LONG BEACH -- With more and more shark sightings off the Long Beach coast, beachgoers are being warned to enter the water at their own risk.

A number of great whites have been spotted near the shore recently, including two Thursday morning.

Signs have been posted warning swimmers and surfers of the risk and fishermen have been asked not to do anything disruptive to the sharks.

Several shark sightings, many of them great whites, have been caught on video by beachgoers encountering the large animals in the water.

Frank Nielsen went out on the water on a paddleboard hoping to catch underwater video of the sharks, but he was warned to leave.

"I saw two sharks," he said. "The water's pretty murky so I didn't get really good footage"

Experts believe the sharks spotted Thursday were most likely juvenile great whites, about 5-6 feet long. They did not display aggressive behavior, so the beaches remained open.

That was not the case two weeks ago farther south at San Onofre State Beach.

A woman who was wading in the water was attacked by a shark which tore off a large chunk of her upper thigh. The injury was initially deemed life-threatening, but she got treatment in time and survived.