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A Texas teenager is recovering after being bitten by a barracuda while vacationing in Turks and Caicos.
Sugar Land resident Claire Macdonel, 13, was swimming in shallow water when the fish bit her hand on Sunday, July 19.
The teen was wearing a shiny bracelet on one of her wrists — which likely reflected light and was mistaken by the barracuda for prey.
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Jen Macdonel, Claire Macdonel’s mother, told Fox News Digital that the barracuda attack lacerated four of her daughter’s tendons, in addition to a nerve and a ligament. The girl had surgery on Wednesday.
“She could have easily lost her whole hand or fingers or worse,” said Jen Macdonel.
The teenager was doing handstands when a barracuda was likely attracted to the reflective items she was wearing, mistaking them for prey.
“You know, you’re doing handstands against white sand, clear water, the sun hits that — she probably just looked like a disco ball,” Jen Macdonel said.
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Photos shared by the family show Claire Macdonel’s hand covered in cuts and puncture wounds shortly after the bite. She wore a cast afterward as her wounds healed.
Claire Macdonel told Fox News Digital, “I just felt a lot of pressure. And then I went up. I saw my hand bleeding a lot, and I said, ‘Mom, something bit me. I don’t know what to do.'”
“I looked behind me and saw a big silver tail. … I was very scared,” she told FOX 26 Houston.
“I was just anxious, like, I was crying the whole time,” she said.
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A nurse who had been in the water nearby — an “angel,” as the teen described her — saw the commotion and rushed over. The woman applied a tourniquet to Claire Macdonel’s injured hand while the girl’s mother worked hard to understand what had just happened.
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The nurse “really saved the day,” Jen Macdonel told Fox News Digital.
“I was in shock, actually … I just kind of had an out-of-body experience where I knew I had to stay calm. Your mom instincts kick in,” she said.
“I was very afraid of how much blood she was losing during all of that time. I didn’t know if she was going to lose her hand or her fingers or worse,” the mother said.
She said she was trying not to panic, but it was a struggle.
“I was constantly looking for signs of infection,” Jen Macdonel said.
“I was very afraid of how much blood she was losing.”
She told Fox News Digital her daughter hopes to spread awareness about what could happen to others in the water, also emphasizing that the barracuda attack hasn’t diminished her daughter’s love of the water.
“She’s already planning our next trip so we can have a redo because we love the island, and she loves the water,” Jen Macdonel said.
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“Ever since I got this bite, it has actually made me want to discover the ocean even more … I’m even more curious about what’s inside the ocean and what behavior it has,” Claire Macdonel told Fox News Digital.
“I’ve always loved marine life, even if it’s scary fish. I’ve always been curious about them.”
Her mom added, “Something terrifying happened. It was unfortunate, but it is rare, and we don’t want to create fear for the ocean because she got right back in the ocean.”
Barracudas “stay still and wait for prey to swim past,” said Yannis Papastamatiou, an associate professor in biological sciences at Florida International University.
Papastamatiou told Fox News Digital that barracudas respond “immediately” to anything they perceive as prey, though attacks on humans are very rare.
“For the most part, we are clearly much too large to be considered prey,” he said. “But if you are wearing anything shiny, they may perceive that as the movement of a smaller fish and respond.”
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“The main thing is I would avoid wearing anything reflective like jewelry,” Papastamatiou added.
“If you do see a barracuda, then just avoid making sudden movements. Remember their vision is not good like ours, and they may think your hand is small prey. Barracuda bites are actually very rare.”
The incident came just weeks after Turks and Caicos made international headlines for a different reason.
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Earlier this summer, the U.S. State Department renewed its Level 2 “Exercise Increased Caution” travel advisory for the Caribbean destination, citing reports of assaults, petty crime and scams targeting tourists.
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