Barracuda incident-St. Croix, USVI

Not exactly SCUBA, but, a 12-year old boy in St. Croix, USVI, was bitten on his
foot by a barracuda. The boy apparently was sitting on a beach with his feet
in the water. The fish nearly severed two of his toes, but the medics
reattached them successfully. (Don't know if he had a toe ring on or not!)

"Oldiver" <oldiver@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040512163326.26642.00001325@mb-m11.aol.com...
> Not exactly SCUBA, but, a 12-year old boy in St. Croix, USVI, was bitten
on his
> foot by a barracuda. The boy apparently was sitting on a beach with his
feet
> in the water. The fish nearly severed two of his toes, but the medics
> reattached them successfully. (Don't know if he had a toe ring on or
not!)

Once again proving, you are safer under the water than at the surface ;)

> Not exactly SCUBA, but, a 12-year old boy in St. Croix, USVI, was bitten
> on his foot by a barracuda. The boy apparently was sitting on a beach
with his
> feet in the water. The fish nearly severed two of his toes, but the
medics
> reattached them successfully. (Don't know if he had a toe ring on or
> not!)

I'm more than a little skeptical on this one. My guess is the kid was doing
something his parents had told him not to do, got hurt, and blamed the
barracuda. Of course, I could be wrong. If so, must have been a small
barracuda. One of any decent size would not have "partially" severed his
toes.

Lee

"Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.remove.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:9qAqc.20978$KE6.15738@newsread3.news.atl.eart hlink.net...
> > Not exactly SCUBA, but, a 12-year old boy in St. Croix, USVI, was bitten
> > on his foot by a barracuda. The boy apparently was sitting on a beach
> with his
> > feet in the water. The fish nearly severed two of his toes, but the
> medics
> > reattached them successfully. (Don't know if he had a toe ring on or
> > not!)
>
> I'm more than a little skeptical on this one. My guess is the kid was
doing
> something his parents had told him not to do, got hurt, and blamed the
> barracuda. Of course, I could be wrong. If so, must have been a small
> barracuda. One of any decent size would not have "partially" severed his
> toes.

Even fish as small as barracudas if you can call 4'+ small could be seen in
water shallow enough to wet one's toes. There was no mention of this
incident in the *Virgin Island Daily News* nor would I expect there to be as
they don't print things that might have a negative impact on tourism IMHO.

I'm not doubting that something happened, but the story may have been
embroidered upon in the retelling.

>
>"Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.remove.netcom.com> wrote in message
>news:9qAqc.20978$KE6.15738@newsread3.news.atl.ear thlink.net...
>> > Not exactly SCUBA, but, a 12-year old boy in St. Croix, USVI, was bitten
>> > on his foot by a barracuda. The boy apparently was sitting on a beach
>> with his
>> > feet in the water. The fish nearly severed two of his toes, but the
>> medics
>> > reattached them successfully. (Don't know if he had a toe ring on or
>> > not!)
>>
>> I'm more than a little skeptical on this one. My guess is the kid was
>doing
>> something his parents had told him not to do, got hurt, and blamed the
>> barracuda. Of course, I could be wrong. If so, must have been a small
>> barracuda. One of any decent size would not have "partially" severed his
>> toes.
>
>Even fish as small as barracudas if you can call 4'+ small could be seen in
>water shallow enough to wet one's toes. There was no mention of this
>incident in the *Virgin Island Daily News* nor would I expect there to be as
>they don't print things that might have a negative impact on tourism IMHO.
>
>I'm not doubting that something happened, but the story may have been
>embroidered upon in the retelling.>

None of the USVI papers that I checked had the story. The story came from the
Miami Herald. From a post on another board:

"This is what was in the Miami Herald today (5/12/04)...

U.S. VIRGIN ISlANDS
BARRACUDA ALMOST
COSTS BOY, 12, 2 TOES

CHRISTIANSTED -- A 12-year-old boy nearly lost two toes when he was bitten by a
barracuda during a beach outing, his mother said Tuesday.

Sergio Pérez, with his family for a Mother's Day picnic Sunday, was sitting on
the beach with only his feet in the sea when a barracuda bit his foot, María
Rivera told The Associated Press.

Her son was recovering in a hospital after doctors reattached the toes.

Barracuda, which can grow to six feet, rarely attack humans and when they do
it's usually because they misinterpret a shiny object as being a small fish."

"Oldiver" wrote

> "This is what was in the Miami Herald today (5/12/04)...
>
> U.S. VIRGIN ISlANDS
> BARRACUDA ALMOST
> COSTS BOY, 12, 2 TOES
>
> CHRISTIANSTED -- A 12-year-old boy nearly lost two toes when he was bitten
by a
> barracuda during a beach outing, his mother said Tuesday.
>
> Sergio Pérez, with his family for a Mother's Day picnic Sunday, was
sitting on
> the beach with only his feet in the sea when a barracuda bit his foot,
María
> Rivera told The Associated Press.
>
> Her son was recovering in a hospital after doctors reattached the toes.
>
> Barracuda, which can grow to six feet, rarely attack humans and when they
do
> it's usually because they misinterpret a shiny object as being a small
fish."

Now I'm even more skeptical. The kid was sitting on the beach? If it was
a a fish at all, I think it is a lot more likely to have been a small
shark or even a blue fish, both of which have been known to frequent
shallows and to have bitten anything they thought might taste good.

Lee

"Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:UhKqc.14945$zO3.12691@newsread2.news.atl.eart hlink.net...
> "Skip Elliott Bowman" wrote
>
> > Even fish as small as barracudas if you can call 4'+ small could be seen
> in
> > water shallow enough to wet one's toes. There was no mention of this
> > incident in the *Virgin Island Daily News* nor would I expect there to
be
> as
> > they don't print things that might have a negative impact on tourism
IMHO.
> >
> > I'm not doubting that something happened, but the story may have been
> > embroidered upon in the retelling.
>
> I don't doubt that barracuda were around. It's the attack itself that
> triggers my skeptical side. I've dangled toes in barracuda filled waters
> for a lot of years and, so far, all my toes are intact.

I once had a smaller barracuda chomp onto my fin while diving. We had quite
a struggle there for a minute or so. It was humorous at the time because no
one got hurt and it was just a little guy, maybe a foot and 1/2 long. Had
it been one of the big suckers, I'd have been quite a bit more fearful. As
it was, the worst damage was done to my dignity and my dive companions all
flooded their masks laughing.