It's not unusual to see fishermen posing with their catch, but one man from Australia sparked backlash after showing off his ridiculous 80kg fish.
Yes, you read that right - 80kg. At 12st 5lbs, that's more than a lot of fully grown adults. Needless to say, it wasn't your average goldfish.
The fish was actually a giant bass grouper captured by a Queensland man, who does not want to be named, when he was fishing off North Stradbroke Island on Monday (1 August).
Bass grouper usually live between 250 to 600 metres underwater, but this one was caught about 40 kilometres off Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island after what I can only imagine was a lot of effort. I've never tried reeling in a human-sized creature from the likely slippery deck of a boat, but it definitely doesn't sound like the easiest task.
Not only was the fish extremely heavy, but it also measured 175 centimetres long - or 5'7", if we keep up the human comparisons. If this were a cartoon, the bass grouper could definitely don some a trilby, some sunglasses and a long coat and walk unnoticed among humans down the street.
The fisherman didn't hesitate to snap some photos of the beast after he managed to haul it onto the boat, but not everyone was as impressed as he was.
After images were shared online, Facebook users responded to argue that the fish should be placed back in the water and left in peace.
One person wrote: "Please tell us you put him back to live the rest of his life out in the sea where he belongs."
Another critic commented: "I hope one day our society will find photos like this as repulsive as we do people photographed after killing a lion."
Though the fisherman did receive a lot of backlash, other Facebook users expressed belief he would have been right to hold on to it.
One person argued: "Clearly all you people that are saying he should of released it aren’t fishermen/women. You can’t release a fish that came from such deep water, while reeling it up , their insides literally explode, hence why his eyes are popping out of his head an its insides are coming out of it stomachs. And for all the people hating that he caught the fish, you literally CAN NOT help what fish lands on your line at the time."
According to British Sea Fishing, "the vast majority of fish which have been dragged up from the depths by a commercial trawler will die, even if they are returned to the sea, as their swim bladder will be ruptured."
It's unclear what the man decided to do with his catch after reeling it in, but whether he kept it or not I'm sure he won't forget the catch any time soon.
