VIDEO: Beachgoers try to rescue giant blue marlin that washed ashore on Texas coast

Marlin died after attempts to take it back into water

PORT ARANSAS, Texas – People enjoying their weekend on the Texas coast were startled when they saw something large splashing in the distance, a massive blue marlin that had washed ashore. 

The marlin was spotted Sunday evening off the coast of Port Aransas. 

Austin resident Breana Nafziger posted video of the marlin in the water. Nafziger told KSAT.com the marlin was 109 inches long, or about 10 feet.

Video showed the marlin struggling before people rushed to try and get it back into the water.

Nafziger said the men seen in the video tried for 20 minutes to get the marlin into deeper water so it could swim away, but it did not survive. 

It was loaded onto the back of a truck and taken to a marine biologist at the beach.

According to KIII-TV in Corpus Christi, the marlin’s death was being investigated by marine biologists at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. 

A necropsy will also be performed on the marlin. The TV station reported it may have ingested something that caused it to starve because it was underweight when it was found. 

Nafgizer's video of the marlin had more than 1.6 million views as of Friday morning.


About the Author:

RJ Marquez is the traffic anchor/reporter for KSAT’s Good Morning San Antonio. He also fills in as a news anchor and has covered stories from breaking news and Fiesta to Spurs championships and high school sports. RJ started at KSAT in 2010. He is proud to serve our viewers and be a part of the culture and community that makes San Antonio great.