Watch: Fisherman gets shock of his life when a GIANT manta ray is in net
Brazilian fisherman catches giant TEN FOOT manta ray that nearly tips his boat and is forced to jump in and free it from his line
A fisherman, who hooked more than he bargained for has ended up saving the life of his prize catch – a giant manta ray, as big as a car.
Pedro Ricardo Xavier, 37, was trawling about half a mile off the Itajai coast, south Brazil, when the oceanic monster, measuring almost ten feet and weighing over a ton, got tangled in his fishing tackle.
https://youtu.be/QOlgBkDKtwU
Xavier said: ‘I’ve never seen an animal of this size in my life before and I’ve been fishing for over 25 years.
‘It was huge and I was terrified because it was so much bigger than my little boat.
‘I thought about cutting the steel cables attached to the net to release it, but then the risk was it would get stuck in them and die. So I decided to return to the coast to release it safely and get some help.’
But before he could get back to shore, the veteran fisherman’s small vessel was dragged for two hours by the beast as he struggled to manoeuvre his way out of the sea creature’s grip.
The exhausted sea farer said: ‘[The manta ray] was really strong and I was extremely worried that I would get pulled further and further out to sea and capsize as she fought to get away.’
Xavier eventually managed to scramble his craft back to the coast. Once there, shocked bystanders and other fishermen were enlisted to help return the marine animal to the deep.
The scenes were recorded in May this year by locals who gathered to witness the unremarkable event.
According to oceanographer, Rodrigo Mazzoleni, the species is threatened with extinction and rarely appear off the south Brazilian coast. The Mantra Ray was probably feeding on shrimps near the coast when it got caught he said.
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