Enormous sawfish caught off Florida pier

NAPLES, Fla. — A fisherman hooked an endangered smalltooth sawfish at the Naples Pier Thursday.

Alex Pino, who was sightseeing at the pier, shared video of the catch on YouTube.

"I knew somebody must have caught something interesting so I headed that way," he told the Naples Daily News.

The enormous sawfish, also called the carpenter shark, was brought closer to shore so the hook could be removed.

A crowd gathers along the beach and can be heard cheering as the fish thrashes in the shallow water.

"That's when we all got to see how huge this sawfish is," Pino told the Naples Daily News. "I've never seen anything like it in person."

Smalltooth sawfish can grow up to 18 feet long and weigh up to 700 pounds, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Once the hook was removed it slowly made its way out to the Gulf of Mexico.

The crowd clapped as it swam out to sea.

Cox Media Group