NewsTreasure CoastRegion Martin CountyStuart

Actions

Sailfish leaps out of water, injures woman off Stuart coast

Maryland woman says it happened so fast she didn't have time to react
Sailfish
Posted
and last updated

STUART, Fla. — A 70-year-old woman was stabbed by the bill of a 100-pound sailfish that leapt out of the water and attacked her as her companions were trying to reel it in on a boat near the Florida coast, authorities said.

The sailfish stabbed the woman from Arnold, Maryland, in the groin area with its pointed bill on Tuesday while she was standing in the boat as two companions tried to bring it in on a fishing line about two miles offshore from Stuart, according to a report from the Martin County Sheriff's Office.

MORE: Florida child stabbed in chest by barb from catfish

The companions applied pressure to the wound, and the woman was taken to Stuart for medical treatment.

The woman told deputies that the attack happened so fast that she didn't have time to react, according to the sheriff's office report.

Sailfish are among the fastest fish species in the ocean and, like the swordfish, are recognizable by their extended, pointed bills.