Lighthouse Point, Fla. ? An 81-year-old man was in critical condition Thursday after a stingray flopped onto his boat and stung him, leaving a foot-long barb in his chest similar to the accident that killed “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin.

James Bertakis, of Lighthouse Point, was on the water with his granddaughter and a friend Wednesday when a stingray flopped onto the boat and stung Bertakis. The women steered the boat to shore and called 911.

Doctors were able to remove the barb during surgeries Wednesday and Thursday by eventually pulling it through his heart and closing the wound, said Dr. Eugene Costantini at Broward General Medical Center.

He said Bertakis’ case was different from Irwin’s because the barb stayed in Bertakis’ heart and was not pulled out. Videotape of Irwin’s last moments shows him pulling the barb from his chest.

Bertakis apparently was trying to remove the 3-foot-wide spotted eagle ray from the boat when he was stung, police Cmdr. Mike Oh said.