Pulisic criticised after falling off boat on to endangered goliath grouper fish following ball juggling stunt

Chelsea and USMNT midfielder Christian Pulisic has found himself at the center of a storm involving a goliath grouper.

On Saturday, a video went viral on social media showing the 22-year-old sitting on a boat, juggling a ball over one of the giant fish, which was held on a line.

He initially looked confident as he juggled the ball with his right foot but went for one trick too many in what proved to be a costly error.

At the start of the video, someone in the boat says: 'Got a Goliath Grouper that Christian caught, and he's teaching it how to play soccer.'

The fish was unlikely to be impressed with the lesson though, as Pulisic lost control of the ball and slipped out of the boat and into the sea, landing on top of the fish.

The Chelsea star was pulled back into the boat, nervously laughing after his showboating backfired.

Pulisic certainly picked the wrong fish to land on and annoy - the Goliath Grouper can reach lengths of up to 8 feet while weighing up to 320kg.

Pulisic, who played 43 times for Chelsea last season and scored six goals, was criticised by the Blue Planet Society, a volunteer pressure group campaigning to end the overexploitation of the world's ocean.

On its Twitter account, it posted: "Abusing a threatened goliath grouper for a social media video is a new low."

A goliath grouper is a large saltwater fish found in tropical waters. It can be found most commonly in waters off the eastern coast of the Americas, including the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, much of the Caribbean, and the Brazilian coast. It is less commonly found off the coast of Africa from Congo to Senegal.

Its conservation status is classed as 'vulnerable', which means there is no immediate concern over its future.

However, due to the fact that they tend to spawn in large aggregations and return annually to the same locations, this makes them vulnerable to mass harvesting. 

As such, a harvest ban was imposed because the population was in rapid decline. It has been protected in the USA since 1990 and the Caribbean since 1993. 

The fish have a slow growth rate, which means that the population will take some time to return to its previous state.

Last season, Pulisic became the first American to play in a Champions League final after Chelsea triumphed over Pep Guardiola's side.

He added more silverware to his cabinet last month, scoring the 114th-minuter winner as the United States beat Mexico 3-2 in the final of the Concacaf Nations League.

The winger will be hoping to put his injury problems behind him and become a regular in Tuchel's side next season as he starts his third campaign as a Chelsea player