Stingray victim called a 'very tough' 81-year-old

An 81-year-old Florida man who survived a stingray attack is being described as “a very tough gentleman.”

Dr. Eugene Constantini, of the Broward General Medical Center, also told NBC's "Today" show on Friday that while the past couple of days have been rough for James Bertakis, he’s pleased with his progress overnight and “hopeful” that Bertakis will survive.

Constantini said Bertakis was lucky that the stingray’s barb broke underneath the skin and couldn’t be removed until he got to the hospital. Otherwise rescuers might have been unable to stop the bleeding.

He added that that’s what makes this case different from that of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, who died after pulling out a stingray’s barb.

In the case of Bertakis, who also suffered a collapsed lung, surgeons were able to remove the 2.5 inch barb, which had penetrated the wall of his heart.

Doctors pulled the barb through his heart and then closed the wound, Constantini said Thursday.

Ellen Pikitch, a University of Miami marine biology professor who has been studying stingrays for decades, said they are generally docile.

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“Something like this is really, really extraordinarily rare,” she said. “Even when they are under duress, they don’t usually attack.”

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Lt. Mike Sullivan said the incident occurred on Florida’s Intercoastal Waterway, where stingrays are rarely seen leaping in the air.

The three-foot-wide stingray died on board the boat and was later removed.

off Australia’s north coast last month. It was one of only a handful of stingray fatalities on record.