don't make this fish mad!

[hensylee]

Fish Kills Spear-Fishing Diver
Reuters
MIAMI (Sept. 12) - A Florida diver shot a large grouper with a spear gun then apparently drowned when the fish sped into a hole, entangling the man in the line attached to the spear, investigators said Monday.

The 42-year-old man, whose name was withheld, was free-diving in about 25 feet of water off the lower Florida Keys Saturday and speared a Goliath Grouper, Monroe County Sheriff's Detective Mark Coleman said.

"It looks like the fish wrapped the line attached to the spear around the victim's wrist. The fish then went into a hole in a coral rock, effectively pinning the man to the bottom of the ocean," Coleman said in a news release.

Police divers found the speared fish tightly wedged into the hole, with the man's body still tangled in the line, a sheriff's spokeswoman said.

Goliath Grouper are the largest members of the sea bass family and can weigh hundreds of pounds.

 

[RandyL]

Well I am sorry for him but he should not of been breaking the LAW. It is illegal to kill Goliath Groupers(otherwise known as Jew Fish). They have been a protected species for quite sometime now. They can get as big as 200-300 lbs and are pretty agressive on the food chain. The don't get bothered by too many other predators. I have only caught one before and it was 28" long, just a baby.

 

[hensylee]

wow, hearing Jew fish takes me all the way back to when I was little. Mother was born in Key West in 1909 and their 'meat' was always fish. Her father was an old fashioned diver (iron and all) and a fisherman. Mother talked a lot about Jew fish and all the other kinds of fish they ate daily. Did you know there was a run on trying to eliminate that name and change it? I don't know if it ever got passed, but maybe now it's officially Goliath? Old Conchs will always call it Jew fish, tho. My cousins do.

 

[RandyL]

Yes They officially changed the name to Goliath Grouper. It has been illegal to keep them for quite sometime do to commercial fisherman and recreational fisherman over harvesting them for table fare. They are very tasty as are all the grouper family'
Here is a picture of one that was caught off of Cocoa Beach, Fl a month ago that was posted on a fishing forum I frequent. He got into the water to show just how big that fish was.

 

[hensylee]

that fish surely didn't come out of a pond, did it? What a size - must be several times the weight of the kid in the water. I sent this on to my cousin who loves this fish - but he won't call it Goliath, tho it really is one. He's fished in the keys all his life and is too ill now to fish anywhere. Thanks for sharing.