Goliath Grouper Strikes Again: Are The Giant Fish Getting Too Cocky? [Video]

What’s good bait to catch a Goliath grouper? A live shark might do the trick according to a new video circulating around the web.

The video, shown above, shows fishermen about to dehook a black tip shark, only to have the catch swallowed whole by a Goliath grouper. Although the snatch is startling, the fishermen have a good laugh about their lost prize.

The creator of the video gave some background on reddit:

“Little backstory: Ran out to the reef at around 8am yesterday and wasn’t having much luck. Put out a chum block, set down some blue runners on the reef and waited. Had a 15lb goliath grouper take and brought him up, as I brought him to the boat, the monster goliath shown in the video came and tried to steal him. About 30 minutes later I had about a 5foot nurse shark take and brought him up. As I was dehooking the shark, the goliath came back and inspected but didn’t attack him. Finally, about an hour after the nurse shark, I hooked the black tip [shark] behind the boat in the chum slick, and then the hilarity in the video began.”

The video has left many viewers with two terrified questions, “what is a Goliath grouper and should I avoid the ocean for the rest of my life?”

The good news is the Goliath grouper, also known as the Jewfish, does not eat people, just other fish and crustaceans. The bad news is the grouper can be aggressive in getting a meal, and sometimes the results can be a little more frightening.

Another video posted in 2012 shows a man spearfishing only to be attacked by a Jewfish as he was taking his catch.

This also isn’t the first time the Goliath has been filmed eating a whole shark off the line. Another incident happened in 2009 and was filmed and put on youtube.

Some fisherman have complained that the groupers have been too aggressive and don’t fear humans. The Atlantic Goliath grouper is critically endangered and has been protected in the U.S. since 1990. The population has been recovering and there’s been an increase in the amount of encounters with humans.

The groupers are most commonly found off the coast of Florida, Brazil and other Caribbean locations. At the extreme points in its range it can found off the New England coast.

Looks like Goliath grouper might be perfecting a new way of getting a meal, steal it from humans.

[Image Credit: Brett Seymour/Wikicommons]