Durban — A young man was taken to the hospital after he was bitten by a king mackerel at a fishing event over the weekend.
Start Rescue reported that on Saturday afternoon, Start Rescue members were called out to a medical incident in St Lucia involving a young man.
“On arrival, Start members were informed that he had been bitten by a king mackerel at a fishing event,” Start Rescue said.
“They were advised to go to the nearest hospital for a complete clean-up and any other necessary treatment, so the family opted to transport their son to the hospital privately.”
Start Rescue added that they wished the man a speedy recovery.
According to the Oceanographic Research Institute, the king mackerel’s other common names are the narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, cuda, couta and katonkel.
The king mackerel is a large, elongated fish with a streamlined body, a pointed snout and sharp teeth. Its colour is blue-grey above, silvery on the sides and white below. Numerous irregular, dark, vertical bars mark the flanks.
The fish is widespread in warm waters of the Indo-Pacific, distributed from South Africa north along the east coast of Africa to the Red Sea, east along the south coast of Asia as far north as China and Japan and south to Australia. Common in Mozambican and KwaZulu-Natal waters, it rarely extends as far south as Mossel Bay.
Males mature at 65-71cm and females at 82-110cm fork length, equivalent to an age of approximately one and two years respectively. Spawning occurs during spring and summer (September-January) mainly in warmer Mozambican waters.
Mackerel can reach a maximum size of 220cm fork length and a weight of 46.4kg. They have been aged to a maximum of 14 years in southern African waters and 16 years elsewhere.
Adults migrate southwards during summer (November-March) into KwaZulu-Natal waters from Mozambique and return during winter. This probably represents a feeding migration as little spawning has been recorded in KwaZulu-Natal waters.
WhatsApp your views on this story at 071 485 7995.
Daily News