Man speaks out after apparent shark bite in Sunset Beach, one of many recent close encounters along East Coast

SUNSET BEACH, NC (ABC NEWS) — A North Carolina man is recovering after being bitten by an apparent shark Wednesday morning in what is one of several recent shark encounters along the East Coast, even before the official start of summer.

Sean Barton says he had just finished riding a wave in Sunset Beach when he felt something clamp down on his leg.

“I just got done riding a wave – standing up, I felt something bite down on my calf/shin region, just bite down on my leg and then let go pretty quickly thereafter,” Barton said. “Immediately I thought, I just got bit by a shark.”

The bite happened while Barton’s nieces were swimming nearby. He shouted for them to get out of the water and ran to shore, where his brother-in-law helped treat the injury and his sister called 911.

“Glad that maybe it was me and not any of my nieces or any of the kids playing in the water,” he said. “Definitely lucky that it wasn’t a lot worse than it could have been.”

Officials say Barton was conscious and alert when emergency responders arrived.

Meanwhile, beachgoers up and down the East Coast are on high alert after multiple recent shark sightings.

In Rhode Island, what appeared to be a 20-foot basking shark stunned tourists over the holiday weekend as it swam through Block Island’s Great Salt Pond. While the footage drew comparisons to Jaws, experts say there was no threat.

“This is a big shark — it’s the second-largest shark in the world. But it’s feeding on microscopic little plankton,” said Stephen Kajiura, a marine biologist at Florida Atlantic University. “From a distance, you might see this huge fin and be terrified, a la Jaws. But in reality, you’ve got nothing to fear from a big basking shark like that.”

In Florida, video captured a shark swimming just feet from a woman during a guided tour near Panama City Beach. Captain Chris Farley said the woman appeared shocked but stayed calm.

“You think you’re just going to the beach, waist-deep in water. But they could be anywhere,” Farley said.

The shark appeared to be a blacktip — a species common to the area that feeds on reef fish and typically swims along the coast in shallow water.