By Daily Mail Reporter
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A six-year-old boy lost three-quarters of his thigh in a bloody shark attack at a Florida beach on Tuesday.
Nickolaus Bieber, from Palm Beach Gardens, was swimming near the Juno Beach Pier in Jupiter at about 7pm when he saw the shark 'thrashing in the water'.
The creature then surged at him, gnawing a chunk out of his leg.
Stretcher: Nickolaus Bieber, 6, pictured, was taken to hospital after a shark attack on a Florida beach
'He was bleeding so much that we couldn't tell which part of the body was bit,' an onlooker told WPTV.
Nickolaus' mother, Christina Bieber, said she initially thought her son had been stung by a Portuguese man-of-war when he turned to her and said 'something bit me'.
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'I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was bad,' she told The Palm Beach Post.
She said she wrapped a towel around her son's leg where a 'good chunk' was torn off and passers by called 911.
In audio of the emergency call released on Wednesday, the caller describes the bite as a 'pretty big gash' and adds that the boy was 'bleeding pretty bad'.
Attack: The child, pictured, is doing well after the shark ripped off three quarters of his right thigh
The bite to Nickolaus' upper back thigh was about 12 inches in circumference, covering about three-quarters of his right thigh and came very close to the bone.
But the shark managed to avoid major vessels and nerves, according to surgeons at St. Mary?s Medical Center, where the boy was flown by Trauma Hawk.
Dr David Rankin said plastic surgeons replaced the missing tissue and so far the replacement tissue has taken.
He and Dr Michael West, a trauma surgeon, said the boy was lucky to be alive.
Bull: Authorities didn't get a good look at the shark but they suspect it was a bull shark, pictured (file photo)
'He?s a very luck individual,' Dr West told The Post. 'This was a significant shark bite when compared to the size of his leg.'
Nickolaus will spend at least a week in hospital but he is expected to be walking again within a month.
Authorities haven't confirmed what type of shark bit the boy, although they suspect it may have been a bull shark.
Ms Bieber said her son was brave during the attack and was now recovering well.
Brave: Christina Bieber, Nickolaus' mother, pictured, said her son was 'tough'
'He was calm, he was alert the whole time,' she said in a press conference.
'He's alert now. He's heavily medicated but he's doing OK and he's in good spirits and people who know my son, he's tough.'
Matthew Bieber, Nickolaus' father, said it was 'pretty impressive' how the wound was stitched up. 'It gives us a lot of hope,' he said.
Nickolaus was swimming with his sibling in waist-deep water when the attack occurred. His parents said the family visited the beach regularly.
Ms Bieber described the attack as a 'freak accident' and urged parents and kids not to be afraid of the water.
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