The mystery over what bit a tourist off Governors Beach has narrowed sharply, with two international experts independently ruling out a shark and concluding that a barracuda was the more likely culprit.

The Cayman Islands Department of Environment said on Friday that the marine-species bite specialists reached the same conclusion after carefully examining photographs of the woman’s injuries.

“Both experts independently confirmed that the recent fish bite was not caused by a shark and was more likely from a barracuda,” the DoE said.

The finding is the clearest indication, yet of what happened off one of Grand Cayman’s best-known beaches and follows two days of uncertainty over whether a shark or barracuda was responsible.

The female visitor was injured while swimming off Governors Beach on Wednesday and was treated by the Health Services Authority for a non-life-threatening injury. Government said on Thursday that she remained under observation, was in good spirits and was expected to make a full recovery.

Initial assessments and eyewitness accounts had pointed to a possible encounter with either a barracuda or shark, although officials stressed at the time that the identification remained under review.

The latest assessments rule out a shark but stop short of definitively establishing that a barracuda caused the injury. the government’s wording is that a barracuda was “more likely” responsible.

The DoE said it was continuing to consult with the specialists while carrying out in-water surveillance and collecting low-level drone imagery of the area for further analysis.

Barracudas are a natural part of Cayman’s reef ecosystem and help control fish populations within the ocean food web. Officials said incidents in which they bite people are extremely rare.

The fish can, however, follow schools of smaller fish into shallow water close to the shoreline, bringing them into closer proximity with swimmers and snorkellers. The DoE said barracudas may also mistake flashes from shiny objects such as jewellery for fish.

Swimmers and snorkellers may therefore wish to remove jewellery and remain mindful when schools of small fish are present nearby, the department said.

There is no evidence that jewellery played a role in Wednesday’s incident, and officials have not said that the injured visitor was wearing anything reflective.

The new assessment also puts into context concern about sharks following the incident.

As previously reported by The Caymanian Journal (TCJ), the DoE has repeatedly emphasised how unusual shark bites are in local waters. Following a separate incident involving an underwater photographer off Little Cayman in February, the department said:

“Shark bites are an extremely rare occurrence, particularly in Cayman waters.”

In that case, a juvenile tiger shark bit a photographer on the thigh while he was documenting the annual Nassau grouper spawning aggregation. The DoE said the shark appeared to have mistaken the diver in poor visibility and did not pursue him after the bite.

Researchers and their partners had conducted annual surveys at the site for 25 years - amounting to thousands of dives - without a similar incident, the department said at the time.

Sharks and barracudas are both natural inhabitants of Cayman waters, and the presence of either species close to shore does not in itself indicate an increased danger to swimmers.

The latest findings reiterate comments made this week by former Premier Wayne Panton MP, who has a longstanding involvement in environmental and marine conservation and sought to put the risk into perspective following Wednesday’s incident.

“You’re more likely to be struck by lightning than bitten by a shark in Cayman,” Panton told TCJ.

For now, the Government's investigation continues. But after two independent specialists examined the injuries, officials have provided their clearest answer yet: it was not a shark, and a barracuda is the more likely explanation.