Girl mauled by barracuda, recovering

[RockaFowler]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/girl-mauled-by-barracuda-recovering-838870.html

A Key West girl whose right hand was severely mauled by a barracuda during a snorkeling outing with her family was released from the hospital Tuesday.


Nine-year old Michelle Casasola underwent six hours of surgery at Miami Children's Hospital, according to spokesperson Cristene Martinez-Paez. Michelle was left with dozens of stitches along her right hand from a procedure during which her surgeon, Dr. Chad Perlyn, removed a nerve from her leg and reattached it to her hand.


"The doctor is hoping those nerves will become functional in her hand," Martinez-Paez said.



The Barracudas down here in Florida are scary looking and just plain scary.

[LostinVA]

1. I had one follow me all around Ft. jefferson while I was snorkeling

My grandfather had told me stories about when he was in the navy,a nd how they would attack people swimming. It kept going for my wrist, so i hit it with my camera without thinking, and it swam away. This was right off of the Fort, around the walls.

[Lance_Boyle]

2. That's got to be rare.

I dive with barracuda all the time - schools of them. Never even had one approach closer than 10 feet or so.

Was the family by any chance fish-feeding while they were snorkeling? I see the comment under the story about jewelry - that might tempt one, too.

[petronius]

3. Isn't this the third story recently about young girls getting mangled on family outings?

If I was a parent I'd be getting a bit nervous... Hope this girl recovers easily.

[Warpy]

4. I remember my first experience deep water fishing in the Gulf Steam

when I was about ten. Some guy hauled in half a huge fish. Boat captain said the other half was likely in a barracuda's mouth. That monster fish looked like it had been neatly sliced in half by a butcher knife.

Yeah, they're scary.

[ThomWV]

5. They are curious fish, and will strike at just about anything that flashes

They will spook you sometimes because they will just sit in front of you and watch, or circle you. Where they are at their worst is when you are catching small fish on reefs and a Barracuda finds you. Generally they will sit under the boat and take every fish you take as you bring them to the rod. Its about as annoying as hell and there's not much you can do about it.

[Jigglebilly]

15. yeah I went snorkeling with tons of them...the locals just said to remove ALL jewelry

I wonder if the little girl was wearing a bracelet or something. Best of luck to her :(

[rocktivity]

6. I guess it was only a matter of time before Sarah and Bristol came to blows.

:evilgrin:
rocktivity

[Common Sense Party]

7. Somebody has to post the music link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpkitLUbeEg

[Lochloosa]

8. This article is useless without a pic of a barracuda.

[AnArmyVeteran]

9. Barracudas are terrifying when encountered underwater...

I was in Cozumel snorkeling and as soon as I swam around a rock jetty a huge barracuda was within 3 feet of me and totally motionless. His face was right in front of mine. He showed zero fear. I slowly backed away without taking my eyes off of it. It never moved, but I thought it would strike at any moment. I've been around rattlesnakes and they didn't frighten me, but that barracuda did. I was in 'his' home and he didn't seem to like it.

[flvegan]

10. This is why I stay out of the water.

Humans fall so far down the food chain once we enter the water.

[LostinVA]

13. +1

[seabeyond]

22. +1. so, so agree. nt

[onenote]

11. I've been diving with barracuda literally hundreds of times and never been threatnened

And on one occasion, my wife and I were snorkeling and we had a large barracuda shadow us the whole way, to the point that we began to refer to its as our "bodyguard" and asked the boat captain if we could keep it if it followed us all the way home.

Barracuda are not aggressive towards humans. However, they are quick strike artists with very sharp and dangerous teeth. If you are feeding fish in their vicinity, they may decide to partake and they are so incredibly fast you won't have much chance to get out of the way. Also, they will strike at the glint of jewelry, which looks to them like the sun reflecting off a fish.

Scary looking. Yep and I enjoy showing off my close up photos of barracuda. Actually scary? Not if you aren't doing something to attract them.

[depakid]

23. They'll take a snap at your catch bag

If you were snorkeling, you probably wouldn't even see it coming.

[tammywammy]

12. I never thought Palin would go so low n/t

[TeeYiYi]

14. Barracuda image...

TYY

[shanti]

16. i was scared to death of them

while on vacation in jamaica. they're very fast, so would probably stick you before you even saw them.

[malaise]

17. People here eat them but

they can poison you. A co-worker's brother nearly died after eating one -he was in and out of hospital for close to six months with the worst food poisoning I ever witnessed in my life.

[shanti]

18. i think they're called kingfish there?

my ex LOVED it.

[malaise]

20. No kin fish are different from

barracuda. Lots of people love kingfish here. We only eat kingfish if we don't have a choice - we're snapper freaks. :D

[shanti]

25. oh yeah, snappa!

it was bf's favorite fish, especially the head ;-)

[petronius]

19. The poison - ciguatera - can be found in a number of large predatory fish,

depending on what they've been eating. The source grows on algae which are eaten by smaller fish which in turn are eaten by the big fish, where the toxin accumulates. Barracuda are big and eat a lot, so maybe they have a higher likelihood of accumulating a significant dose?

[malaise]

21. Interesting

Never knew that. :hi:

[Posteritatis]

24. I like the variety of reactions in this thread

At least the roughly equal numbers of people claiming they're harmless (or at least usually safe) on the one hand and people thinking of them as deathbringers of fearsome power on the other.

Granted, a mix of those attitudes is probably a good idea for most wild animals and any carnivorous ones..