Barracuda “Torpedo” Puts Teen Angler in Hospital

Last Sunday, 13-year-old Parker King of Port Orange, Florida received 27 staples and 17 stitches to repair injuries caused by a hooked barracuda that leaped into the boat and cut deep into his arm and chest with its razor-like teeth.

According to the Daytona Beach News Journal, King and his father were taking advantage of the short snapper season and had already boated one fish a piece when his father noticed a five-foot long barracuda swimming past and decided to try to catch it.

“He set the hook and the barracuda swam around the motor, then all I heard was ‘watch out,’ ” the 13-year-old said. As he threw his hands up over his head, the fish “shot up and launched into the boat. It came up like a torpedo out of the water,” he said. “It nailed me.”

King’s father immediately wrapped his son’s wounds in towels and headed for shore where Parker’s mother was waiting in a vehicle to rush him to the hospital. But when they met, she wasn’t prepared for the scene on the boat.

“I could see the whole towel was soaked with blood and his whole body was covered in blood,” she said.

Fortunately, King’s situation improved at nearby Halifax hospital. He was released Tuesday and says he’s already thinking about getting back on the water.

The barracuda incident “is definitely not going to stop me from fishing,” he said. “But I won’t fish for barracuda again.”