HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A brave resident swam to the rescue, Monday morning, after a large fish found itself trapped along Hollywood Beach.
“I just had to do what I had to do,” said Hollywood resident Marcy Cellentani.
Cellentani took a dive into the water to save a distressed sunfish that was about 10-feet long and possibly weighing 500 to 600 pounds. “The police officers all said, ‘Don’t do it,’ and I just went, ‘Can you stop me?'” she said.
The massive sunfish swam into trouble during high tide near North Surf Road and Balboa Street.
The species normally swims in deeper waters off of South Florida, but the fish had somehow swam too close to shore and wound up stuck.
A video shot by Cellentani shows the daring rescue.
“It’s supposed to be swimming vertically but was in shallow water and could not get out,” said Cellentani. “She was swimming sideways.”
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said many people thought the fish was a whale. Since the species isn’t protected and didn’t pose a risk to the public, the FWC couldn’t intervene, according to officials.
Luckily, Cellentani went home, grabbed her diving gear and swam to the rescue.
“Her face was rubbing in the sand — in the water, but only two feet of water,” she said.
With the help of a kayaker and two hours of pushing, she was able to get the sunfish further away from shore, beyond two sandbars. “Her skin is much like sandpaper,” said Cellentani.
The self-described animal lover said the fish was worth the effort, and she’s glad she could help, even if the result wasn’t exactly as she had predicted.
“It was a little anticlimactic because I wanted it to be like a ‘Free Willy’ moment, and she was just kind of like, ‘OK, I’m now swimming the right way,’ but she wasn’t swimming very fast,” said Cellentani. “I think she was just as tired as I was.”
The FWC said the sunfish can grow to be as large as 2,000 pounds.
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