'I was scared': WA surfer describes moment a creature, believed to be a shark, knocked her off her board

A woman who believes she was knocked off her surfboard by a shark in Western Australia has described the moment she was attacked and saved by her husband.

Lily Kumpe, 37, was surfing with her husband Mike Taylor at Ocean Beach in Denmark, in the state’s south, yesterday morning when she glimpsed a “large black mass”.

“I didn’t really know, I guess, what was going on other than that I was scared,” she said.

“I just felt something hit me and I fell off my board.”

Her husband immediately paddled over, placed his wife on his board, and paddled to shore.

Ms Kumpe has bruising on her face where the surfboard hit her and lacerations on her left hand.

The creature took a bite out of the board.

“I feel very fortunate I’ve not been injured, [but I’m] a little shaky still,” she said.

Based on the damage to the surfboard, the attack was "very likely" to have been a shark, the Department of Fisheries said, but the size or species could not be determined.

Ms Kumpe said she would definitely be getting back out on the water but didn't know when.

"I know that we'll be surfing again."