A fisherman who speared a protected species of grouper while diving off Florida has been killed after the fish swam into a hole and entangled him in the line attached to the speargun.
A 42-year-old Florida man, who has not been named, was free-diving in 7.6m/25' of water off the lower Florida Keys this weekend when he speared a Goliath grouper, Epinephalus itajara.
According to a report from Reuters, Detective Mark Coleman said that police divers had found the speared fish tightly wedged in a hole with the man's body entangled in the spear line: "It looks like the fish wrapped the line attached to the spear around the victim's wrist. The fish then went into a hole in a coral rock, effectively pinning the man to the bottom of the ocean."
The Goliath grouper is one of the world's largest grouper species reaching a length of over 2m/6'6" and weighing in at as much as 400kg/63 stones.