A shark has attacked 18-year-old Eli Zawadzki at Pyramids Beach in Dawesville near Mandurah, leaving him with deep wounds to his foot and one of the shark's teeth stuck in his flesh.
Mr Zawadzki, an apprentice electrician and Mandurah local, was attacked at the beach south of Perth shortly before 5pm on Wednesday, the Department of Fisheries has confirmed.
The shark was spotted about 4:50pm and Surf Life Saving WA was notified of the attack 20 minutes later.
The man was taken by ambulance to Peel Health Campus with a deep laceration to his foot where he remained on Wednesday evening in a stable condition, but was reportedly later transferred to Fiona Stanley Hospital.
The teenager's mother Eleni told ABC Radio her son would stay in hospital on intensive antibiotics for a few days but was expected to make a full recovery.
"He's having surgery this morning," she said.
She said authorities hoped the shark's tooth taken from his foot would identify the species that attacked him.
The Department of Fisheries said it was investigating the incident and had boats on the water early on Thursday.
The department's spokesperson said it had been more than 12 hours after it was last sighted with Fisheries trying to identify what sort of shark it was.
"The shark was not tagged like the sharks that have been detected close to 300 times during the past seven days in Warnbro Sound," the spokesperson said.
Fisheries said all they could do was speculate but the shark probably was in the area for environmental reasons such as schools of fish in the area.
The attack is the first shark attack on West Australian beaches in 2015.
Pyramid Beach has been closed until further notice.
Authorities warned members of the public to exercise caution in the area and to keep informed of the latest detection and sighting information by checking the SharkSmart website or Surf Life Saving WA's Twitter feed.
If you see a shark, report it to Water Police on 9442 8600.
