Big bass kills spear-fishing diver off Florida

MIAMI – A Florida diver shot a large grouper with a spear gun then apparently drowned when the fish sped into a hole, entangling the man in the line attached to the spear, investigators said on Monday.

The 42-year-old man, whose name was withheld, was free-diving in about 7,5 metres of water off the lower Florida Keys on Saturday and speared a Goliath Grouper, Monroe County Sheriff’s Detective Mark Coleman said. “It looks like the fish wrapped the line attached to the spear around the victim’s wrist.The fish then went into a hole in a coral rock, effectively pinning the man to the bottom of the ocean,” Coleman said in a news release.Police divers found the speared fish tightly wedged into the hole, with the man’s body still tangled in the line, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.Goliath Grouper are the largest members of the sea bass family and can weigh hundreds of pounds.Nampa-Reuters”It looks like the fish wrapped the line attached to the spear around the victim’s wrist.The fish then went into a hole in a coral rock, effectively pinning the man to the bottom of the ocean,” Coleman said in a news release.Police divers found the speared fish tightly wedged into the hole, with the man’s body still tangled in the line, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.Goliath Grouper are the largest members of the sea bass family and can weigh hundreds of pounds.Nampa-Reuters

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