Barracuda Jumps In Boat, Bites Girl

http://cbs4.com/pets/barracuda.bite.attack.2.1780770.html

GULF OF MEXICO (CBS4) A 14-year-old west coast girl has quite a fish tale to tell after she was attacked by a barracuda – while sitting in a boat.

During a fishing outing with her family off Venice last Sunday 14-year-old Koral Wira, who was feeling a little seasick, was sitting in a shady spot on the boat when the attack happened. The 3-foot-long barracuda shot out of the water, flew across the boat, and clamped onto the girl's arm.

"At first I didn't notice because it happened so fast; then I looked down and there was blood everywhere," Wira told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. "It felt like a truck hit me."

The family said the barracuda's bite left her arm looking like "raw hamburger." Afterwards Wira needed 51 stitches from her elbow to her wrist.

Although barracuda attacks are rare, a spokesperson at Mote Marine said that attacks could happen if the fish was feeding or, in the case, had been hooked.

Koral's father Rob Parker said right before the fish jumped into the boat he had been fishing for barracuda and shark. He said when they finally got it off Koral's arm, he found his bait and hook inside the barracuda's mouth. The only thing was, he said, he never set the hook and it looked like the fish just hit the bait and then jumped into the boat.