Horror as boy, 8, is left covered in blood and screaming in pain after he was attacked by a FISH

An eight-year-old California boy was left bleeding and screaming in pain after he being attacked by a fish while at a beach in Montreal, Canada. 

Max Mandl was playing with his father, George - an editor based in Hollywood - at an inflatable structure anchored in the Parc Jean-Drapeau's man-made lake. 

As his legs dangled in the water, he began to yell for help after feeling a stabbing pain.

'He was in the water, next to the raft and just instantly started screaming, kicking, thrashing around,' recalled the father. 

As soon as he began to yell, lifeguards rushed to pull Max from the water by the life vest and took him to the dock; the boy was covered in blood.

'There was blood gushing out of his leg in multiple places. He had been attacked by a fish, we believe. 

'What was weird was that as soon as he got out of the water he was still screaming and thrashing. That's when something in my parental brain clicked, and I ran over and saw that there was blood all over the place.'

'One minute you're just playing and the next you're at the beginning of Jaws,' George told CTVNews. 

Paramedics and two emergency room doctors later noted that they had never seen semi-circular bite marks with such deep lacerations on a person. 

Béatrix Beisner, a professor of biological sciences who studies lake animals at the Université du Québec à Montréal, first theorized that Max may have scratched himself somewhere. 

But after some research, Beisner went on to say that the young child may have been bitten by a muskellunge. 

Muskellunge, also known as musky or muskie, is a cool water species and can reach speeds of 30 miles per hour. 

They are known to possess a large snout full of canine-like teeth, which are sharp as needles, and are a sight feeder that hunts mostly during the day. 

Muskies are a stealthy ambush predator hunting near submerged weeds and logs and can live as long as 30 years in their natural environment.

Larger muskies are known to attack and consume nearly any living animal, invertebrates, amphibians, small rodents, waterfowl, muskrats and smaller muskies. 

They are mostly found in the Northern to Northeast part of the United States and up into Canada.