Fishing Team Loses Millions in Contest After Marlin Is Disqualified for Being ‘Mutilated’

A North Carolina fishing team lost out on roughly $3.5 million after officials disqualified the 619-pound blue marlin it spent six hours hauling in during a competition because it had been "mutilated" by a shark, Raleigh's News and Observer reported.

Sensation, a crew based out of Morehead City — where the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is held annually — proudly suspended its catch at an official weigh-in viewed by thousands of spectators.

But weight masters spotted a recent shark bite near the fish's head and announced they'd need to take more time to deliberate.

The tournament uses a set of rules from the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), which disqualifies fish already injured by other animals and thus no longer able to fight to their full potential.

"Mutilation to the fish, prior to landing or boating the catch, caused by sharks, other fish, mammals, or propellers that remove or penetrate flesh" should result in a disqualification, IGFA rules state. The organization makes exceptions for fish with scars or old wounds that have since healed over.

Big Rock said it consulted with North Carolina State University's Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, local biologists, and an IGFA official to make the determination. The decision fell in line with the results of similar deliberations over the past 65 years, according to organizers.

Instead, Sushi, a crew based out of Nags Head, North Carolina, will walk away with $2.77 million for hauling in the second-heaviest blue marlin of the day, which weighed about 485 pounds.

Sensation's catch would have fetched a higher price because it also would have won for weighing over 500 pounds.

The tournament's final decision, announced Sunday, generated more than 5,100 reactions on Facebook, including 2,300 "angry" reactions.

The largest blue marlin ever caught in accordance with IGFA rules weighed over 1,400 pounds. It was brought to shore in Vitoria, Brazil in 1992, according to Marlin Magazine.