Shark attack feared on Southern California beach after woman is pulled bloodied from the water with large bite marks 

Lifeguards shut down a popular Southern California beach for swimmers and surfers after a woman was pulled injured from the water with bite marks in a possible shark attack, authorities said.

The woman, swimming in a wetsuit, was spotted in distress by a lifeguard rescue boat at Corona Del Mar State Beach just after 4pm on Sunday, city of Newport Beach spokeswoman Tara Finnigan said. 

The woman had large bite marks, reportedly consistent with signs of a shark attack, on her upper torso and shoulder and was bleeding heavily.

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Lifeguards shut down a popular Southern California beach for swimmers and surfers after a woman was pulled injured from the water with bite marks in a possible shark attack, authorities said

An advisory sign noting of a shark sighted on Sunday is pictured above. The woman was spotted in distress by a lifeguard rescue boat at Corona Del Mar State Beach just after 4pm, an official said

Authorities are waiting for official confirmation for the cause of the woman's bites. 

Finnigan said the woman was conscious and breathing when she was taken the hospital but did not know any more about her condition.

Lifeguards cleared the water from the state beach to the Newport Pier, a stretch of more than two miles.

It will be shut down at least until morning while authorities, with help from a police helicopter, look for a shark or other animal that attacked the woman.

The woman was swimming about 100 yards offshore, just outside the buoys marking a protected swimming area, near the area where boats can travel.

'We have a lot of triathletes and long-distance swimmers who use this beach for training,' lifeguard Battalion Chief Rob Williams told KTTV-TV.

The lifeguards who saw the woman witnessed the last part of the attack and quickly ruled out any kind of boating or watercraft accident, Williams said.

There have been no recent reports of sharks in the area, he said.

Lifeguards cleared the water from the state beach to the Newport Pier, a stretch of more than two miles

However, the area has seen several shark sightings in the past year including a sighting of an eight-foot shark on a stretch of Newport Beach last October, according to KTLA.

A reason for the increase in shark sightings along the Southern California coast has been said to be the El Nino conditions which began last year. 

The possible shark attack on Sunday came hours after a 13-year-old boy was badly hurt after a shark attack in Florida. 

Neptune Beach police spokesman Michael Key told CBS News the boy and his stepfather were swimming in chest-deep water when the shark attacked.

Key said a lifeguard tower called in the incident, and the boy was rushed to the hospital to be treated for an eight-inch bite behind his right knee and top of his calf. 

He noted the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

Key also said it was the first shark attack of the season at the beach.

George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida, recently warned that the United States could expect more than 100 attacks this year - thanks, in part, to global warming. 

In 2015, there were 98 shark attacks, including six fatalities, according to Burgess.

But this year could surpass the number as shark populations recover from historic lows in the 1990s, while the world's human population has grown and rising temperatures are leading more people to go swimming, Burgess said. 

Still, the university notes that fatal shark attacks, while undeniably graphic, are so infrequent that beachgoers face a higher risk of being killed by sand collapsing as the result of over achieving sand castle builders.