Barracuda Attack

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Gee, maybe I should change my forum name. I've had Barracuda as a CB handle and have always used it because like a Barracuda, I'm curious, but harmless. (so I thought) Many years of diving with cudas around; have some awesome closeup head shots video footage of them, but never felt threatened except once when I was carrying a speared grouper to the surface and a cuda followed me all the way to the surface, and once when I found a sea bass snagged on some branches by a fishing line and hook in a tidal estuary on Andros Island. I cut him loose and had intentions of having him for dinner. I dragged him around like a kite on a string until a large cuda showed up and obviously took extreme interest in my "kite" I got nervous so I let the bass go and the cuda hit him like a rocket and disappeared with MY catch. Other than that, I think they a beautiful fish in an intimidating way.

Barracuda2 (I think I'll keep the name)
 
i remember the first baracuda I ever saw was on the wreck Mercedes in Ft. Lauderdale. It was my AOW deep dive, also saw my first shark (nurse shark ) on that dive too.

The most cudas I have ever seen is when I dove the Duane in Key Largo. i was going down the line in a ripping current that made me feel like a flag on a pole in a hurricane, it was like palying tug-a-war with the wreck to pull my self down the line, and I look around and there is about 100 cudas all around me, with that pit bull of the sea teeth baring look they get, all staring me down. Then I get down onto the wreck where the superstructure is blocking the current, so I can swim around, and I think this is the nearest to narced I have ever been. I see this cuda, huge one, with a hook and line hanging from his lip, and I'm thinking poor fish, how am I going to get that hook out of this mouth and I started swimming towards him. then I came to my senses and realized this was crazy, that I wasn'tabout to have a nice sweet lion and the mouse story of my own. Now everytime I see a cuda with a 'lip piercing' I think of that time and how dumb that would have been to do.
 
Wendy, It was about 2 1/2 months before I could dive again after the attack. In May I spent a month back in Utila. Saw lots of Cuda. two had hooks in mouth. One with line & weight, the other with the shank of about a 7/0 hook sticking straight up out of it's upper jaw. Cudabait
 
Barracuda2,

Why should you change your name? It's a great handle. My feeling toward barracuda in general remains unchanged. I'm still the same, almost, they're still the same. Beautiful fish. Primarily daytime sight feeders, often feeding on fish almost their own size. Did you know that they have two distinct sets of teeth in their mouth? One set is the long sharp interlocking teeth, which are very visible and used for grasping prey. The other set is actually the teeth that do most of the work the barracuda is famous for, cutting it's prey in half, or right behind the gills. These teeth are hard to see because they are smaller, triangular teeth designed for cutting. Barracuda see their prey and explode into a burst of speed which approaches 35 mi. per hour. The speed and impact actually forces the barracuda's mouth to open wider in order to cut through the prey, very much like a circular saw. Very clean straight cut. The barracuda then grasps and holds the severed portion of the prey with the "long" teeth. Pretty neat, huh? The Cuda is also my favorite fish. They are moderatly unpredictable. My interest in this whole deal is an effort to seek others with similar information/experiences simply because these attacks are almost unheard of. Regards, Cudabait
 
Wendy, your story about the Duane is so very familiar, right down to the barracuda with the hook and line hanging from his lip!
I dove the Duane about 5-ish years ago, and what I remember most is how much larger the barracuda were in Florida than anyplace I had seen before.
They were patrolling the bridge of the boat in a pugnacious-looking circle, and I was enthralled by them. The closer we got, the tougher they looked, like a bunch of piscine thugs, complete with body piercings. :D
 
This is a continuation of other comments I have made regarding this subject in this thread.------- There is no hospital on the island of Utila. There is the "trauma center" (first aid station) located at Bay Islands College of Diving (BICD) and the the public health service, located across the street from BICD. I was taken to BICD (The hyperbaric chamber is also located here. It is said to be supported collectively by all of the dive operations on the island. I was bleeding from two small severed arteries in a deep laceration to the nose.

I was treated by a male nurse who was assisted by a young teen ager. After a lenthy period of time attempting to stop the bleeding he finally said he needed help. I was beginning to feel the early symptoms of shock and expressed this to my wife. One of my dive friends went and located, Jose Guerra, aCuban doctor, who is currently working in the public health center on Utila. He was the only doctor on the island. (Glad he was there) He came in, took a look at the situation, told me not to be concerned, that he would have the bleeding stopped in ten minutes. Sure enough, about 10-15 minutes later, he had cauterized the bleeders and sewed up the laceration. He packed the inside of the nose to stop the small amount of remaining bleeding.

I was unable to make the trip uphill the few blocks to our apartment, so we got a room in the hotel next door to BICD. At about 4:00AM Ann, my wife, had to go across the styreet and wake up "ol Jose because the packing was saturated and I was bleeding again. Jose to the rescue. He had on his "Blues" and sandals. He broughr packing , etc. and re-packed the nose. The bleeding stopped. He had a great bid needle full of a chemical that he wanted to shoot in my south end. He promised it would make me feel better and sleep. Thanks, but no thanks, I wanted to know if I started bleeding again.

Next morning he changed the packing again, and several more times over the next two days. I should mention that they attempted to take x-rays. The film was bad and the equipment was not working. Our boat captain was chosen to hold the negative plates. Enooough said.

During this time we were in touch with Divers Alert Network (DAN). I'm fortunate that I have both primary and DAN insurance. DAN was and continues to be superb. They had bi-lingual doctors immediatly on line and they had a case manager who was available 24 hrs. Great cudos!! They would not let me fly for two reasons. I had been doing about 4 reps a day and flying was problamatic; also the possibility of arterial bleeding again while in flight was a major consideration.

SOOOOOOOO, Ann and I left our two bags of equipment with our good friends at Deep Blue Divers, also our two bicycles. Two days later we were able to take the ferry to La Ceiba, and a five hour taxi ride to San Pedro Sula, where DAN had made arrangements for me to see the doctor at the hospital emergency room. He checked me out, removed all the packing, gave me the OK to fly the next day. DAN paid for our emergency return.

Saw my doctor. X-rays & CT-scan revealed I had a massive orbital blowout. My right eye was sinking back in my head, etc. Saw one of the best Opthalic-plastic surgeons in Houston. He did reconstructive surgery complemented by generous amounts of titanium, etc. Subsequently began seeing a well known ENT, who specializes in dive medicine. After aboyt two and a half months (Ann and I regularly swim laps) we returned to Utila. We spent another month there and did not want to leave. We will probably go back for an extended stay after the first of the year. We just got back from Cozumel (another adventure story) and other than some local diving, plan to go to the Flower Gardens for 3 days in September. Thanks again for the interest/comments about related Cuda attacks/bites, etc. Be safe, Cudabait:band: :band: :band:
 
Abit of irony, Cudabait, that you who have speared and eaten many barracuda, were the subject of a barracuda attack which almost took out your eye. I think this is an attack that is worth examining closely.

That barracuda mistook your face for a flashing target. It would appear we must be wary of unpredictable predator behavior when doing night dives. Hope you are better, and still diving.
 
I have no doubt the fish attacked the mask I was wearing. It is a four window mask. I have replaced it with a black one which is identical. However, the clear silicon version of the mask literally mirrors light. It seems to be the way the glass meets the frame, because it is that particular area of the mask that brightly reflects light. Also, on the other hand, the mask is obviously very well built. It held up to a tremendous impact, did not brreak or shatter. The mask and my regulator probably saved my life or at least my right eye. The fish thought it was dinner and I happend to be wearing his dinner.

:bounce: :bounce: By the way, upon returning to Utila, I found out that the barracuda had most likely died. The attack happened at Airport Caves. Some of my diving friends told me that they saw the barracuda a few times after the deal. It's lower jaw appeared to be broken or dislocated and hanging to one side. They deduced the fish was unable to feed and died.

Dive safe
 
You mean to say, it broke it's jaw on your face?!?

You are now, officially, the toughest human I have ever heard of!
 
a few years back, at this site which has an underwater observatory (called Fisheye Park) 2 guides...one of whom I know pretty well...were both bitten by (most likely) the same barracuda...about 4 1/2 ~5 feet long I'd say. Basically, this is a place where a lot of the guides throw out hotdogs, squid or whatever to feed the fish. There were 2 of these "pet" barracuda there..one large & one small. The way I heard it, the first victim was waving/signalling to his diver, and the hand motion resembled a "throwing out food to the fish" motion. He got hit by the barracuda & managed to keep all his fingers (but barely!) & had more than one operation, I believe.

The other guy I don't really know & don't know the specifics...don't think it was as bad, though.

I DO know I always gave a "special" briefing to my divers before going there..."if you see me bring my hands in close to my body, under my chin like an old-fashioned boxer, you do the same right away." These barracudas would come up to you & hover only a foot or 2 away, waiting for a handout....and if they saw a "hand out" (sorry for the stupid pun)...they might mistake it for a feeding motion. So, I don't think these were really attacks in an aggressive sense....just going for some free food & catching some fingers by mistake.
 
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