At first glance, we thought it was a barracuda that silently appeared in front of us as we snorkeled at Maui’s Kahekili Beach. This did not alarm us because barracuda usually have no interest in swimmers or snorkelers. I say “usually” because if you are wearing a piece of shiny jewelry - such as a bright watch or a necklace or maybe even a nose or belly-button ring - a barracuda can confuse its glint for the silver belly of a fish and strike in the blink of an eye . . . or faster. Some reports say they can strike at speeds of nearly 40-feet per second. Their teeth leave deep, slashing cuts that can damage nerves, tendons, large blood vessels . . . and I don't even want to think about what they could do to your nose or belly button.
The slender fish remained motionless, inches below the surface, giving us more time to regard it, and we quickly realized it was not a barracuda . . . but we did not breathe a sigh of relief. It turned out that we were gazing at a fish that is even more dangerous than a barracuda - a crocodile needlefish. It’s often referred to as “the living javelin,” and if you read on, you will see why the name is, sadly, appropriate.
Adult needlefish, which can reach 3-4 feet in length, are slender but powerful fish that have a distinctive pointed beak with needlelike teeth. It is, however, not the teeth that cause it to be dangerous. Its danger lies in its ability to “fly” like its close cousin, the flying fish.
Like the barracuda, needlefish tend to linger near the surface and prey on schools of small fish. They can be solitary, like the one we saw, or they can be found in schools patrolling reefs and lagoons. In darkness, they are attracted to light, which also seems to confuse them, and it is not uncommon for them to leap free of the water, hurling themselves at whatever object is emitting the light. Their speed is phenomenal. They have been clocked at 37 mph.
And therein lies the danger. When you have a pointed object - like a javelin - flying at you at a speed greater than, say, 30 mph, you are in trouble. The result can be fatal. Here are four chilling accounts of people's encounters with needlefish.
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In September 1977, a 10-year-old Kauai boy was on a small boat, night fishing with his father. The father heard a thud and turned to find his son slumped on the deck with a severe head injury. Alongside him in the boat was a large crocodile needlefish (3-4 feet in length) that had leaped from the water, striking the boy near his eye. His father rushed him to Wilcox Hospital, where he was airlifted to Straub Hospital in Honolulu. Sadly, his son never recovered. An autopsy determined that the beak of the needlefish had penetrated his brain.
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Another incident occurred during a night in 2005, when two friends were standing in the water alongside their small boat in Kahana Bay on the island of O’ahu. One of them saw movement in the water and shined his flashlight toward it. Almost immediately, a crocodile needlefish, apparently attracted by the light, flew out of the water, piercing his abdomen. It then wiggled itself back out.
"I stood there like two seconds staring," said the victim in interviews with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Advertiser, "then I felt this tremendous pain in my chest. I couldn't speak. As I looked down, all I seen was eyes and teeth. It drilled me right in the chest. It felt like a missile or a sledgehammer. I said to myself, 'Lord, if it's your will, let it be done.'"
His friend wasn’t sure what had occurred until he pulled out his flashlight: "I pulled the flashlight, and I saw the blood shooting out,” he said.
Somehow, he managed to lift his 225-pound friend into the boat and paddled furiously to shore, a quarter-mile away. Once on shore, he flagged down a policeman. By the time the victim reached the hospital, he had no feeling in parts of his body, but after more than four hours of surgery, he pulled through. Today he has a scar that extends from his chest to lower abdomen. (He also has a tooth the needlefish left in his stomach, and he keeps that in a jar as a reminder of that night.)
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In 2007, a 16-year-old Vietnamese youngster was diving for sea cucumbers in Halong Bay when he was stabbed in the heart by a needlefish. His diving companions saw the fish stuck in his chest and pulled it out, but they could not stop the bleeding, and he died soon afterward.
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In 2018, a 22-year-old Thai Petty Officer was training in the night with a special forces team in Trat Province. He was holding an underwater flashlight that attracted a three-foot needlefish. It raced through the water and speared him through the neck, killing him.
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Wikipedia states that “for many traditional Pacific Islander communities, who primarily fish on reefs from low boats, needlefish represent an even greater risk of injury than sharks.”
How hard is the strike of a needlefish? This video, which first aired in 2021 on Hawaii's KHON2 News, provides a chilling answer. Near the end of the three-minute video, you will see a needlefish that flew out of the water with so much force that it penetrated a kayak's fiberglass hull. The large school of needlefish that is seen in the video was probably being chased by an ocean predator.
Interestingly, crocodile needlefish have developed a symbiotic relationship with the Hawaiian cleaner wrasse. Although they prefer to stay near the surface, needlefish will descend to the reef floor to allow wrasses to “clean” them by picking off parasites and excess tissue that the wrasse then eats. In return for this good deed, a cleaner wrasse never needs to fear that it will end up in a needlefish’s stomach. Actually, no fish needs to worry about ending up in a needlefish’s stomach. Needlefish have no stomachs. Their digestive system secretes trypsin, an enzyme that helps break down food.
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