SUNY Professor Brutally Hurt in Shark Attack Off Cape Cod Improves, Beach Stays Closed

The 61-year-old SUNY professor bitten by a shark while standing in the water just 30 yards off a Cape Cod beach last week is improving, hospital officials said over the weekend as they upgraded his condition to "fair." 

Tufts Medical Center in Boston released no additional information on William Lytton, the SUNY Downtown professor from Scarsdale who suffered "deep puncture wounds" to his torso and leg in the attack near Long Nook Beach Wednesday. Lytton had been in serious condition for days following the attack. 

It's still not clear what kind of shark bit Lytton, who was the first person to be attacked by any kind of shark in those waters since 2012. Massachusetts' leading shark expert is trying to determine if his wounds are consistent with a bite from a great white. 

The beach where Lytton was attacked has been closed indefinitely, and several other Cape Cod beaches were shut down Thursday and Friday following shark sightings. It's not clear if anyone saw the creature before it bit Lytton.

A group of nursing graduate students were at the beach at the time of the attack and stepped in to help the bitten man until emergency crews arrived. 

"We just kind of gave him towels, wrapped his leg up because there was clearly a shark bite there," said Molly Tobin, one of the grads. "A bunch of people helped with carrying him down the beach." 

There have been a number of close encounters in recent weeks, with sharks leaping out of the water after fishing lines and one even jumping at a shark scientist who was on a research boat.

There have been 10 great white shark sightings in the last week or so, and more than 60 over the last month off Cape Cod, according to the Sharktivity app.