The Miami Herald reports on the story of a kayaker who was speared through the chest by a houndfish — or alligator gar, crocodile needlefish, etc — which can reach upward of five feet long. A piscine harpoon, if you will.
He probably uses this fish to kill other, bigger fish.
The fish’s long, pointed snout punctured Larson’s back and collapsed a lung, said Bobby Dube, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Larson, 46 of Cudjoe Key, was rescued at sea Sunday evening by two volunteer firefighters and a paramedic who rushed her to Dolphin Marina.
“She was scared. We were all scared,” said volunteer firefighter Kevin Freestone, who used two of his towboat company’s boats to respond. “She was in a very bad way. She was in a lot of pain and her breathing was weak.”
A waiting helicopter airlifted Larson nearly 100 miles to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. She was in serious but stable condition in the intensive care unit on Monday, a hospital spokesman said.
Oh, but this isn’t the first recorded attack by flying fishspears, why check out these assuredly true tales:
In 2000, a 17-year-old girl was snorkeling off Big Pine Key when she was struck by a jumping houndfish. Its bill broke off in her neck, just missing her carotid artery. She lived to tell about the tale after emergency surgery at Fishermen’s Hospital in Marathon.
Another incident involving a houndfish and human occurred more than a decade ago in the Dry Tortugas, about 70 miles west of Key West.
A graduate student was diving at night for a project and the light of a glow stick tied to the top of his air tank apparently attracted the fish, which slammed into the side of his head. The graduate student lived.
A fisherman in Malaysia was not so lucky in 1999. He was killed when a houndfish stabbed him through the lung.
I like kayaking, despite my fear of that which nibbles beneath the sea. Next time, I think I’ll wear a flack jacket underneath the life vest. Still, I can’t wait until SyFy makes this into a movie, like Megapirahna, only no amount of bicycle kicking will save your ass: