WHAT are the odds? A bull shark took a chunk out of the leg of a veteran shark expert Tuesday while he was filming a segment for the Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week 2003.” Dr. Erich Ritter was in a Florida hospital yesterday recovering from emergency surgery after the attack, according to a report in the TV industry trade magazine, Electronic Media.

Ritter and Shark Week host Nigel Marven were wading in waist-deep cloudy water on Walker’s Cay in the Bahamas when the shark attacked, according to a Discovery statement.

“Dr. Ritter was bitten when a bull shark apparently mistook his leg for another shark or fish,” the statement said. The injury was not life-threatening, according to the statement.

Discovery Networks’ president John Ford said he did not know whether the shark attack was caught on tape.