Beware of the Needle Fish in Hawaii

[Formerly 45yroldNewbie]

The way this story is written makes it suspect. Anyone from Hawaii that can verify?


http://starbulletin .com/2007/ 11/24/news/ story03.html

[ needlefish stabs swimmer in throat in Hawaii -mg]

Fish goes for the throat

By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulle tin.com

HILO » Greg Berry and his wife, Debbie, were
treading water at "Beach 69" in West Hawaii on
Thanksgiving Day when a foot-long needlefish speared Debbie in the neck.

"Beautiful Day. Water all sparkly," Debbie later
wrote in an e-mail. "We were about 50 feet out,
and out of the corner of Greg's eye, he sees a
fish bopping along the top of the water.

"Silvery, about a foot long, known as the aha or
happy fish over here. All of a sudden he runs into my neck.

"What the heck? First it's kinda funny. Then Gb
(Greg) looks at me and all this blood is rushing out."

It happened in a single second, Greg Berry told
the Star-Bulletin. He saw the fish "skipping"
across the water for about 10 feet, hit Debbie in
the neck, pull back and swim away leaving a gush of blood.

At first, Debbie thought a snorkeler bumped her.

The site just south of Hapuna Beach, formally
known as Waialea Bay, was packed with people,
Greg said. No one seemed to notice.

The couple swam to the beach, Debbie still gushing blood.

"One gentleman came up and offered to help," Greg
said. "No, I think we're OK," Greg answered as he
wrapped Debbie's neck in a T-shirt.

Despite the bleeding, Debbie, who is "over 50,"
retained her strength, Greg said.

The couple drove to the emergency room at North
Hawaii Community Hospital, 12 miles uphill in Waimea.

Debbie Berry said in the e-mail, "After a
panicked rush to shore, rush to emergency. Turns
out he went in one side and penetrated all the
way through out the other side with his oh soooo
long snout. (Do fishes have snouts?) Couldn't
squeeze his body through, so wiggled back out the
entry side. Just missed the carotid artery and trachea," she wrote.

"Holy happy fish! So now I look like someone
tried to slit my throat. I got stabbed by a fish. Only in Hawaii," she wrote.

Greg said the entry wound was about an inch long.
There was an inch of undamaged skin. Then there
was another 1-inch gash were the fish tried to exit.

"It looks very scary," he said. He did not know
how many stitches the doctors used during the
hour and a half the couple was at the hospital.

"I'd give them 10 stars for their treatment," he said.

The couple drove home to their fruit and flower
farm near Hakalau on the Hilo side of the island.
They skipped Thanksgiving dinner, which they now plan to have next week.

Debbie's neck is stiff and sore, Greg said. "It
was an amazing experience," he said.

Debbie was lucky in a way. While swimming at
night on July 21, 2005, at Kahana Bay on Oahu,
Tonga "Papio" Loumoli, 19, got hit in the belly
by a 4-foot crocodile needlefish, identified by a
tooth the fish left behind. Loumoli had 45
stitches and spent a week in the Queen's Medical Center.

[RoadRacer1978]

Guess it is possible. Fish swim pretty fast and one that has a pointed front could puncture your skin. Fish are usually very good at steering clear of obstacles, but that doesn't mean that the fish didn't get that part of his internals damaged somehow. Stranger things have happened.
Guess we will have to wait and see if anyone from the island saw it on the news and can confirm it.

[wgt]

Below are a few references from the medical literature related to needlefish impalement.

Arch Ophthalmol. 2006 Feb;124(2):284.
Orbital foreign body and ruptured globe from needlefish impalement.

J Emerg Med. 1999 Sep-Oct;17(5):906-7.
Case of a windsurfer speared by a needlefish.

J Emerg Med. 1999 Mar-Apr;17(2):255-9.
A new hazard for windsurfers: needlefish impalement.

Arthroscopy. 1995 Aug;11(4):503-5.
An unusual surgical emergency: a knee joint wound caused by a needlefish.

Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 1995 Mar;104(3):248-50.
Penetrating cervical injury caused by a needlefish.

[RoadRacer1978]

WGT, none of the links worked, but I get the point. Although it doesn't happen all the time, this is not a one time event ans is very possible. Thanks for chiming in.

[wgt]

Hey, RR:

The articles themselves cannot be retrieved unless one has access to a medical library, whether physical or virtual. The hyperlinks to the journals got inserted without my notice. I just removed them and just left the references so that others don't waste time trying to surf directly to the documents. Sorry about that. For those interested, though, the references remain in case the opportunity to read the articles arises.

Your point about the unusual nature of the injury is more than telling. In fact, the circumstances surrounding the reports can be quite bizarre. If I remember correctly, one of the reported injuries involved a needlefish leaping from the water and striking a woman in the neck while she was boating, with the needle snapping off adjacent to her spinal cord. Strangely, she did not actually know for some time that the needle had been left behind, as neurological problems evolved slowly. A subsequent x-ray revealed the culprit.

For those developing a fear of needlefish, I assure you that nailgun injuries are a far more pervasive threat. Check out the x-ray of a guy who only complained of a toothache after operating a nailgun.

[BuzzF117]

Originally Posted by wgt

Hey, RR:

The articles themselves cannot be retrieved unless one has access to a medical library, whether physical or virtual. The hyperlinks to the journals got inserted without my notice. I just removed them and just left the references so that others don't waste time trying to surf directly to the documents. Sorry about that. For those interested, though, the references remain in case the opportunity to read the articles arises.

Your point about the unusual nature of the injury is more than telling. In fact, the circumstances surrounding the reports can be quite bizarre. If I remember correctly, one of the reported injuries involved a needlefish leaping from the water and striking a woman in the neck while she was boating, with the needle snapping off adjacent to her spinal cord. Strangely, she did not actually know for some time that the needle had been left behind, as neurological problems evolved slowly. A subsequent x-ray revealed the culprit.

For those developing a fear of needlefish, I assure you that nailgun injuries are a far more pervasive threat. Check out the x-ray of a guy who only complained of a toothache after operating a nailgun.

What in the world was he doing to get it at that angle?

[BuzzF117]

Isn't there a fish called a Big Head Carp that jump out of the water and into boats when they are scared by boat motors? 3lb fish hits ya a 30mph could do some damage!

[wgt]

YouTube - Asian carp jumping in the boat (Illinois USA)

[Formerly 45yroldNewbie]

Originally Posted by BuzzF117

Isn't there a fish called a Big Head Carp that jump out of the water and into boats when they are scared by boat motors? 3lb fish hits ya a 30mph could do some damage!

Yeah we have those in the Illinois River by me. Haven't seen one yet though. There have been several people around here that have been hurt pretty bade by getting hit by one of those.

[RoadRacer1978]

Any good eating? Seems that would be an easy way to get dinner. Cruise around in you boat and filler up.