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@> wrote in message
news:20040512163326.26642.00001325@mb-m11....
> 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.