Woman Suffers Rare Eel Bite Swimming at Kuhio Beach in Waikiki, Hawaii
OutdoorHub Reporters 08.06.18
A woman swimming at Kuhio Beach in Waikiki, Hawaii last week endured a scary experience after an eel bite left her floating in a pool of blood.
According to KHON-TV, Kristen Porter said she felt a sharp piercing pain in her foot, and when she pulled it out of the water there was “blood everywhere.”
“I knew immediately that it was something bad, and it wasn’t just like a fish nibble, so I pulled my foot into the air and there was blood everywhere, she told the local news station.
With the help of her son, Porter was able to hobble back to shore. Once on dry land, a lifeguard arrived on scene and checked her injuries, telling her it looks like she had been the victim of an eel bite.
Aquarium director Andrew Rossiter, of Waikiki Aquarium, examined photos of Porter’s wounds and agreed – while extremely rare at Kuhio Beach – this was in fact an eel bite. The most likely culprit is a moray eel, a snake-like creature that can measure up to 13-feet-long. Some moray eels can even weigh more than humans, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports.
