In Texas, your chances of being killed in a shark attack are less than being struck by lightning. A person has a higher chance of being bitten by any number of snakes in this state, or getting crushed by a tractor trailer on the drive to the beach.

Although recently a teenage girl was bitten by a small shark in Galveston, unprovoked shark attacks are exceedingly rare in Texas, with the International Shark Attack File recording a mere 38 since 1911. Of those, only two were fatal, the last occurring in 1962. Considering that the last time a person was killed by a shark in Texas waters was before Beatlemania, it makes the chances of a fatal encounter with a shark around these parts look unlikely.

Contrast that to Florida. Volusia County, home to Daytona Beach, which is statistically the area of this country with the highest number of past shark attacks, has 257 recorded since 1882. We're looking pretty good here in the Lone Star State.

The honest truth is that people are a lot more dangerous to sharks than vice versa - something that we hear over and over watching the Discovery Channel's famous "Shark Week", usually during a show exploiting our collective fear of sharks.

Despite the odds being decidedly against a person ending up in the belly of a shark, there are plenty of the maligned creatures swimming in the region's waters. I remember a family camping trip when I was a kid, where we camped on a beach. When I woke up the next morning, there were three large and very dead sharks washed up near our tent. So they're out there, probably swimming close to shore.

But what types of sharks are we most likely to encounter in Texas waters? Let's take a look at a few of the varieties that hang out in the Gulf.