With sharks stealing the spotlight this week on Discovery Channel, a couple of barracudas figured they would stake their claim for "most dangerous fish along South Florida coast."
On two separate occasions this weekend, barracudas took bites out of little girls having fun in the water.
On Saturday, a 14-year-old girl was the target of a flying barracuda that launched itself out of the water and into her family's boat in Venice. The fanged fish ripped a chunk out of Koral Wira's left arm.
But Wira's dad quickly avenged his daughter by stabbing the flopping fish in the eye with a fillet knife. The barracuda was about four feet long, and proud dad just had to get a picture of it, even as his daughter was still in serious pain from the bite.
The next day, 9-year-old Michelle Casasola was snorkeling in Key West until a ferocious fish attacked and swam away with her palm.
"They were throwing bagels out so we can have a good look at the fish, and there was a bagel next to my arm," the little girl said.
Segura was unsure what caused the pain but her mother, Jessica Segura watched the barracuda swim away.
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"I was scared. She was just screaming. A lot of blood was coming out of her hand," Jessica Segura said.
Michelle was taken to a local hospital and later transferred to the Miami Children’s Hospital where pediatric plastic surgeon Dr. Chad Perlyn took a nerve from Michelle’s leg to save her hand.
"I wasn't sure what to expect at first," Perlyn said. "The emergency room doctors said they have never seen anything like this, especially from a barracuda. We knew it was something real."
Barracuda attacks are very rare and hard to prevent. The fish are lone hunters and their speed and razor-sharp teeth make them formidable adversaries in the water.
