One moment, a Bay Area surfer was paddling off the coast of Montara State Beach. The next, he was suddenly thrown from his board.

A surfer was not injured after a shark bit into his surfboard during an attack off a beach in San Mateo County over the weekend.

Shark attacks in California are exceptionally rare, averaging fewer than two incidents per year across the state over the last decade, according to the California Academy of Sciences. Heller said he believed he was attacked by a white shark, which is the primary species involved in nearly all unprovoked attacks in California.