NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (WFLA) — A child was sent to a hospital after a reported catfish stabbing in New Port Richey, according to rescue officials.
Pasco Fire Rescue posted on its Twitter on an incident in which a catfish stabbed a child, identified as a boy under the age of 10, in the chest at a pond.
Rescue officials said that the child had breathing problems while headed to the hospital with his mother. The mother called 911, and rescue personnel took the boy on a trauma alert.
Pasco Fire Rescue said the catfish’s barb went 1 to 1.5 inches into the child’s chest cavity. The victim was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa for treatment and has been stablized.
Catfish can injure fishermen with their pectoral and spines. According to The Angler Within, the spines of a young catfish are hard enough to pierce flesh and impale a person.
Sometimes these incidents can be near fatal. USAToday reported in 2018 about a Missouri fisherman who nearly died after a catfish stabbed him in the knee as he pulled the fish into his boat.