NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 7-year-old New Orleans boy injured while swimming with his family in southeast Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain is believed to have been bitten by a shark.

It happened Friday afternoon in the huge body of brackish water, which is connected to the Gulf of Mexico north of New Orleans.

Shelly Trentacosta told Nola.com/The Times-Picayune that her family was swimming and sailing in the lake Friday afternoon. Her 7-year-old son Trent began screaming and they found that his foot was covered with blood.

Doctors who treated wounds to his heel and big toe later said he had been bitten by a shark.

After viewing photos of the wounds, University of New Orleans shark expert Mitchell Chevalier agreed.

Trent is expected to fully recover.

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