Horror: Victim Cristina Ojeda-Thies tweeted a photograph of the shark's tooth-marks up her arm, after the animal attacked her while she swam off the coast of Gran Canaria
Victim Cristina Ojeda-Thies tweeted a photograph of the tooth-marks scarring her arm after she was treated in a hospital on Friday.
But authorities are trying to play down the attack for fear that it would impact on tourism.
'Today I've had a face to face meeting with a shark,' tweeted Ms Ojeda-Thies. 'Things that happen when you swim in the Canaries in December.'
Fernando Frias, President of the Canary Islands Shark Alliance which promotes shark conservation, called the incident a 'one-off'.
He added: 'I doubt something like this will happen again in the next 50 years so people shouldn't be afraid.'
Spaniard Cristina, 38, from Madrid, was on holiday with her family when she was bitten at Arinaga Beach in Aguimes on Gran Canaria's east coast which is a popular area with divers.
She went for a swim in the sea after Christmas Day dinner with her relatives.
Recalling the horror attack which happened just 60 feet from the shoreline, she told a local paper: 'I noticed something pulling at my left arm but I didn't pay any attention because it felt like a dog biting you when it's playing.
'I returned to the shoreline swimming crawl and I felt another pull again, more intense this time.
'Half a second later I felt something grabbing hold of me, I turned round and I saw it pulling at me. It was a fish. I hit it with my right hand and I saw the shark's fins as it swam off.
'Everything happened very quickly, in seconds. Although it wasn't a painful attack, I didn't realise how serious it was until I got out of the water.
'As I turned round I saw it was a big greyish-brown fish and when I hit it I noticed it had hard, rough skin.
'There are times when I've fallen off my bike or I've burnt myself cooking and it's hurt me more.
'But it's true it was something that frightened me. Thankfully I was able to react.
'I was still in the sea when I put my head under water to see if it was following me and look where I could escape to nearer the shoreline and I didn't see it again.'
Experts said they thought the shark that bit her was probably a silky shark, which is found worldwide in tropical and warm seas.
They can grow to nearly 10ft but their average length is around 7.5ft.
They are considered potentially dangerous and can become aggressive if approached directly.
They normally swallow their prey, generally bony fishes, whole.
Pascual Calabuig, director of the council-run Wild Fauna Recovery Centre in Gran Canaria, described the attack as 'very rare.'
Stupid Kid, ya never go in the water.