94-pound snapper nabbed by diver

A 24-year-old Coral Gables freediver speared a potential world-record 94-pound Cubera snapper May 8 off Miami Beach.

Manuel Menendez Jr. said he was diving near a 40-foot ledge with partner Manny Chica when he spotted the huge, toothy fish.

'I had told my partner, `I have a fishy feeling here,' '' Menendez said. ``We go down, and on my first breath, I aim at a sheepshead.

``Then I look to the right and the snapper is staring at me. I turned and fired automatically.''

Menendez said the snapper went down, pulling line off a reel attached to the speargun. Menendez surfaced and called for his father, Manuel Menendez Sr., to bring the boat closer. Then he dived to reel in the snapper.

''[The fish] came, actually, pretty quickly,'' Menendez said. ``I put my hands in his gill rakers and swam him up and horsed him into the boat. I was in shock.''

The divers took the snapper to Crook & Crook to be weighed and measured, drawing a crowd of onlookers.

It was 51 inches long, with a 43-inch girth.

Menendez took it home to fillet it, and was surprised at what he found in its stomach.

''It had three puffer fish and a bonito head,'' he said. No lobster, which is believed by many to be the Cubera's preferred food item.

He tested the fish for ciguatera -- a toxin that can make a person sick if consumed -- and decided not to eat it. The flesh was potentially positive.

Menendez is submitting his catch to the International Underwater Spearfishing Association for certification as a world record.