Gobsmacked By Grumpy!

On Australia’s Great Barrier Reef there is a grouper fish weighing about 400lb, whose favourite party trick is to suck a diver’s head into its mouth and then spit it out again.

The latest incident, always involving the same fish, involved a Swedish diver having his mask ripped off and suffering minor cuts to his face and neck before the fish, known as Grumpy to locals following similar incidents, spat him out and swam off.

Divers are now so terrorised by the 6 1/2 foot long grouper they are calling for it to be moved to another reef which is not used as much for diving.

Other coastal residents believe that Grumpy should be left just where he is, in his own environment.

A Gold Coast marine researcher, John Fairfax, a surviving victim of Grumpy, said the Swedish diver could easily have been killed by the grouper, commenting, “These fish are so big and strong that if it had just shaken, it could have broken his neck.”

James McLellan, of North Queensland Conservation Council, said “It’s part of the ongoing saga of us trying to shape the world to suit ourselves and not really show much respect for the environment in general. I mean, this is an ongoing problem, we have moved crocodiles and now we’re talking about moving groupers and then there are shark control devices. I think we just have to learn to live with nature a bit better.”

But it all ends with good news for Grumpy, for at the latest meeting in Townsville, on the Australian mainland, they decided that Grumpy should be left right where he is.