A snorkeller has managed to find a groom’s missing $1,000 wedding ring after spotting the piece of jewellery around the neck of a fish.
Suzie Quintal and her husband Nathan Reeves, who live in the Gold Coast, were visiting Norfolk Island around 1,600km north-east of Sydney to see family over the Christmas period.
But as Ms Reeves went for a swim in Emily Bay he suddenly noticed his ring had fallen off.
All hope was lost until this week local snorkeller Susan Prior spotted the missing ring lodged around the body of a mullet fish.
She said she’d heard that a couple had lost their wedding band earlier this year and miraculously was able to track them down on a community Facebook page.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Ms Prior said the sight of the fish trapped in the ring was ‘gut-wrenching’.
Norfolk Island local Susan Prior spotted a mullet fish with a missing groom’s wedding ring (pictured) stuck around its body this week
She said she’d seen other fish caught in plastic rings but to see one weighed down by metal was truly worrying.
‘The metal can only be removed by catching the fish in a net and gently removing it,’ the diver said.
‘The fish seems to be OK so far but as it grows, the ring will cut into it.’
‘He tried to look for it and then broke the news to me and I was not happy,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
Ms Prior said she managed to track down the couple who owned the wedding ring, with locals on the island now working to catch the fish (pictured a separate fish with plastic caught around it)
‘I always tell him to take it off before he goes for a swim. He lost it a day before our second wedding anniversary.’
She said after having no luck finding the ring themselves, locals on the island immediately banded together to offer their help – some with metal detectors.
‘People are now trying to source nets, some have got scuba gear. The team in the glass bottom boats are going to have a look – Norfolk’s really good like that.’
She said she just ‘spun out’ after hearing Ms Prior had found the ring five months later.
‘I just couldn’t believe it. I’ve got a few friends on the island and they’re pretty adamant that they’ll find it.
‘It doesn’t worry my husband, he doesn’t understand all the fuss. I’m just worried about the poor little fish.’
Ms Quintal and her husband have been unable to return to Norfolk Island and are now anxiously waiting to hear if their ring has been retrieved.
Ms Quintal and her husband have been unable to return to Norfolk Island and are now anxiously waiting to hear if their ring has been retrieved (pictured is plastic caught around another fish)
