We have seen several stories this year about goliath groupers putting up big fights on the line. These mammoth fish can weigh up to 800 pounds and they often like to hang out around shipwrecks or coral reefs in warmer waters.
They can also get aggressive as one scuba diver found out who was spearing parrot fish in the area of one territorial grouper recently.
The video sent to National Geographic shows the grouper on several occasions snatch a fish right off the diver’s spear gun. It giant fish even drags the diver around a bit.
The spear fisherman isn’t too happy about it either, but there’s no recourse as goliath grouper are a protected species. Who can blame the fish anyway, asks oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle.
“What is a grouper supposed to do, anyway, when a fish is injured in the neighborhood?” she said.
Photo credit: Youtube
