Lifeguard Michael Gilkes had to protect his own life yesterday when he came across one of the dreaded lionfish while spearfishing at the popular Hot Pot at Brandons Beach, St Michael.
Gilkes said he shot the poisonous fish with his speargun before it could make a move on him and unsuspecting seabathers.
He told the SUNDAY?SUN that he was spearfishing when he caught sight of the venomous fish and immediately he recalled television advertisements about them.
“It stared at me and just opened up like that and just watched me,” he said, widening his arms in demonstration. “Before it could make another move I?just shot it.”
Gilkes, who contacted the team at the University of the West Indies that is conducting a lionfish watch, said several seabathers were already in the Hot Pot and none of them appeared to have spotted it.
“It goes to show that if this is a small one, there have to be bigger ones out there,” he reasoned. (MB)
