Barracuda incident-St. Croix, USVI

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Oldiver - 12 May 2004 21:33 GMT

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!)

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Lattes - 18 May 2004 19:41 GMT

> 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 ;)

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Lee Bell - 19 May 2004 04:22 GMT

> 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

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Skip Elliott Bowman - 19 May 2004 06:50 GMT

> > 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
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> 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.

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Lee Bell - 19 May 2004 15:36 GMT

> 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
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> 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.

Lee

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chilly - 19 May 2004 19:45 GMT

> > Even fish as small as barracudas if you can call 4'+ small could be seen
> in
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> 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.

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