Confirmed: Goliath groupers are terrifying.
While most sources label them as “gentle giants,” there’s nothing gentle about the videos I’ve seen of them annihilating prey.
We saw one suck down a 4ft long black tip shark off the coast of Bonita Springs, Florida, and now we see one take down a stingray, yes a stingray, in one powerful gulp.
Goliath groupers can grow over 8 feet long and weight upwards of 800 pounds, which really puts them near the top of the food chain. They tend to eat slow moving fish, but when they have the chance, pretty much nothing is off the menu, which this 12-year-old tourist from Scotland found out while fishing in Captiva, Florida.
The girl had hooked a decent-sized stingray (probably on accident) and pulled it up to the surface. That alone is an experience that will last a lifetime, but she wasn’t done seeing nature at its finest.
The group noticed a massive grouper lurking in the shadows, and right when I presume Dad starts explaining to her that is can be over 400 pounds, it shoots to the surface, grabs the stingray in one massive swoop, and slowly takes its meal to deeper waters to digest in privacy.
You’ll also hear them call it a “Jewfish,” which was a name for the fish until 2001 when it was deemed a little insensitive for obvious reasons, and it’s unclear how it ever got that name to begin with.
Truly one of the most impressive displays you’ll see while saltwater fishing and a memory that will be forever burned into the little girl’s mind.
Florida wildlife sure is incredible.
