ATLANTIC COUNTY, N.J. -- Two seals are recovering after being attacked by a shark off the Jersey Shore.

---

Images | Video

---

The seals are being nursed back to health at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.

Although seals do commonly fall prey to sharks, it's been several years since two such seals have been here at the same time, NBC 10's Ted Greenberg reported.

One of the seals only has to slightly shift its weight for the wounds to be visible.

"The whole inside of his flipper's gone," said Bob Schoelkopf, the director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. "Seals are prey to sharks."

A female seal was found beached in Ship Bottom on Dec. 28.

"It was a lower jaw that actually lifted the chest open," Schoelkopf said.

The injured male turned up in Toms River four days later.

"That was unusual to have two … shark attacks in one week come in," Schoelkopf said.

Why? Experts say warmer weather this winter may be driving the hungry sharks toward the coastline, and toward the seals.

"The warmer waters will keep sharks in closer and more abundant," according to Schoelkopf.

The center's people said it's hard to tell exactly how many seals are attacked by sharks because often the sharks don't leave any evidence behind, Greenberg reported.

"Only the lucky ones make it. The ones that are attacked at sea and eaten, and we'd never know," Schoelkopf said.

Several types of sharks are typically found off the Jersey coast but, since there were no teeth marks, experts can't tell which were responsible for taking bites out of these two.

The stranding center is now showering the seals with care it's now just a matter of healing. The seals are being fattened up, and their shrinking wounds are being kept clean.

Officials said they hope to be able to release the seals back into the wild over the course of the next few months.