Water Skier Has Fish Fins Removed From Leg

He said the fins likely came from a bluegill

Pat Schottler didn’t think much about a large bruise on his leg and five puncture wounds after a day of water skiing, but during a visit to the doctor a few days later, things took an unusual turn.

Schottler, 35, said he assumed he hit a stick while skiing on Medicine Lake in Minnesota, NBC affiliate KARE 11 reports.

It wasn’t until his wife encouraged him to visit an emergency room that he found out what the bruise actually was.

Doctors ordered an X-Ray of his leg, which they thought would show a broken fibula, but instead showed a “foreign object embedded in his leg,” Schottler’s wife Julie Schottler told KARE.

That foreign object was something the couple never expected—fish fin.

Schottler told the station doctors removed four pieces of fish from his leg, the longest one being nearly three-fourths of an inch. He said the fin likely came from a bluegill. 

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