Air Cuda's

[JJ_BPK]

You may have run into Land Sharks,,

In the Conch Republic, we have Air Cuda's...

Jumping barracuda injures kayaker off Florida Keys
MIAMI | Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:47pm EDT

(Reuters) - A barracuda jumped out of the water and bit a 45-year-old woman kayaker in the chest in the Florida Keys, causing injuries which required her evacuation by boat and helicopter to a Miami hospital, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday.

It said the incident, in which the woman suffered a suspected punctured lung and broken ribs, took place on Sunday evening near Big Pine Key where the victim and a companion were kayaking in shallow water.

The two told rescuers the fish was about 4 feet long and was previously seen skipping across the water. It knocked the woman out of the two-person kayak when it hit her in the chest, the Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported.

She climbed back into the kayak and her companion, unable to row her to safety, called for help on his mobile phone.

"She had a pretty bad chest wound," the paper quoted one of the rescuers, Captain Kevin Freestone, owner of TowBoatU.S. in Big Pine Key and Cudjoe Key and a member of the Volunteer Fire Department in Big Pine Key. "She was conscious, and she was scared about what had happened to her."

The U.S. Coast Guard station in Marathon launched a vessel, but because of the shallowness of the water it was a small boat deployed by TowBoatU.S., which assists vessels in distress, which was able to transport a paramedic to the injured woman and bring her to shore.

A helicopter took her to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami where she was listed as stable, the Coast Guard said.

Barracudas are sleek, swift predators with razor sharp teeth. Other cases of the fish leaping out of the water and biting fishermen and boaters have been reported in Florida.

(Writing by Pascal Fletcher; editing by Jim Marshall)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUST...rpc=22&sp=true

Not new and Not uncommon..

Use your google fu "pictures barracuda attack"

[ZonieDiver]

First, sting rays!

Now, barracuda!

What's next... clownfish????

[JJ_BPK]

Here are some current Attacks,,

Cuda's are BAD MF's...

1/2 way down on the right:

http://www.vaguebuttrue.com/

Down at the bottom of the page:

http://www.vaguebuttrue.com/main/3

Maybe it's Me?? I lived in Boca for 30 yrs and now live on BPK???

[Dozer523]

If it weren't for those nasty injuries (get well soon) I might have said something like:
"OUCH!! got her in the kayak . . . that's gotta hurt".
But, under the circumstances . . . I won't.

Go ahead Teddy, You say it

[steve912]

A few years ago my uncle and his buddy were fishing off the coast when he caught a young cuda. Then it jumped onto the boat and into his lap, and grabbed and bit onto his... ::junk:: His friend had a miniture bat from a local minor league baseball game that they used for striking the fish, and proceeded to bash the cuda that was still biting my screaming uncles crotch... his story made the local headlines, and his face made the cover of the local news paper..my aunt never understood how I could find humor in this story...

[JJ_BPK]

Even the Groper's can be nasty..

]

[incarcerated]

Damn. Our bait shops out here on the Left Coast have some catching up to do.