Do fish have a thing for ink?

[Heffey]

I was just sitting here admiring my new tattoo and a strange thought crossed my mind.

Are there safety issues in diving with exposed tattoos?

I guess what I am asking is have any of you ever had a fish show interest in, or attacked your tattoo?

I have read of issues with barracudas and shiny dive watches or regs but I don’t remember ever reading of tattoo attacks.

Any thoughts?

Heffey

 

[dogtownmax]

i read the barracuda attraction to shiny things in the book "the deep" but have never seen any evidence of this underwater. any idea if its true?

 

[amascuba]

I've had a barracuda attracted to the reflection of itself in my mask before. It was a pretty cool experience. We were nose to nose for about 10 minutes.

 

[Midnight Star]

That's an interesting question. I think most animals hunt by learning the motion and behaviour of their prey ... when they see this, it triggers an attack. It's possible that some "fish" might mistake the dark blotches for algae or something in shadow - attempts to peck a difference in contrast, like those that pick at scrapes and bruises on the skin. I don't think anything as big as a shark, would be interested in something that small; a morray would bite the entire arm, since it would perceive the whole as the threatening animal not the tattoo. Even if the tattoo was shaped like a snake, it's possible a like critter might come over too see it, but it'd first have to overcome the larger animal - you. An octopus might show interest, in the depth of field and detail is there (like a clear and distinct fish on the skin), but again, it'd have to overcome it's fear of man. I'm guessing, that apart from curious little fishes, nothing big would strike. Just guessing though.

 

[Jon C]

I would worry if you have a life size tuna etched on your arm...you might end up a speargun statistic. I would fear the humans more than the fish...in every possible situation one could imagine.

A tat of a life-size mermaid on your back may cause "different" issues.:11:

Jon

 

[merxlin]

I had a tattoo of a donut on my arm and a cop bit the hell out of me, but never anything underwater............

 

[Midnight Star]

I had a tattoo of a donut on my arm and a cop bit the hell out of me...

I think thats a reflex action they have.

 

[terrasmak]

With proper protection why would it even matter . At most your hands and head are the only things uncovered.

 

[bubblemonkey]

i read the barracuda attraction to shiny things in the book "the deep" but have never seen any evidence of this underwater. any idea if its true?

I saw a documentory on animal attacks and there are a number of recorded Barracuda attacks but the only one that springs to mind was the woman scraping barnacles off the bottom of her boat with a shiny scraper I think she lost a finger.

 

[stepup]

I have been fishing many times and always asked if barracuda's were attracted to shiny things like jewelry. I always got the same answer. A barracuda will attack any thing it can get to it not just the jewelry. It is just the nature of the beast. Now that is from fishing captains. But I have no scientific evidence otherwise.