How is it that strobes do not scare the wild life?

[col4bin]

or even worse, provoke an attack from larger animals.

 

[drbill]

Who says they don't? I have video of giant sea bass that were scared off by the use of a strobe. For other fish it may be that the effect is almost instantaneous.

 

[Nemrod]

or even worse, provoke an attack from larger animals.

They do often startle the "wildlife" but as to an attack, by what, an angry parrot fish?

N

 

[col4bin]

They do often startle the "wildlife" but as to an attack, by what, an angry parrot fish?

N

I was thinking more along the lines of a shark

 

[Nemrod]

I was thinking more along the lines of a shark

Shark attacks on scuba divers are so exceedingly rare to begin with that to evaluate the possibility of strobe flash induced shark attacks on scuba divers would be like, well, impossible. You need to stop watching "Shark Phobia Week"

I don't know if you have any experience with bears but had those sharks been griz, I would be dead now, with or without a strobe. The "vicious" man killer shark out to eat you is largely a myth.

James

 

[under water]

Why would they be scared of it? Above ground we have lightning. Perhaps our senses are tuned to be cautious around that. But I don't think lightning is a threat for fish, so maybe it's just not an issue for them.

 

[PatW]

Most strobes are flash light of extremely brief duration. I rather doubt that the animals have ever been exposed to such things. Brief flashes of light probably just trigger a brief "what was that?" Of course, that is assuming that the animal is smart enough to even conceptualize that much which is doubtful. It is just completely out of their experience. Now nearly all animals can be conditioned but having your photo taken does not hurt unless you are homely and vain. So I just don't think they have any reason to respond.

As for triggering an attack, animals attack either out of self defense, predation or protecting a resource. But the strobe seems to not trigger any of those responses in anything I have ever seen.

Now quite a few forms of sea life will "attack" when they are poked or groped. But I really do not see such responses as an "attack", I see it as a valid form of retaliation.

 

[trigfunctions]

Wow - that photo with the sweepers is awesome.

 

[Capt.Ed]

I had a little issue with a very large barracuda two weeks ago that I took a picture of. My wife and I were snorkeling just before sunset and were floating on a flat about three feet deep that dropped off to 10 feet of water (it was a cut for a dock) looking at the snapper swimming around. A cuda about 5 feet long slowly swam by about 5-8 feet in front of me. I decided that it would make an awesome photo to I took the shot. He took great interest in me and the camera after I snapped a picture of him (with the flash).
I've never had a moment were I've been afraid of a cuda until that moment. This fish cruised within 2 feet of me repeatedly. We stood our ground for a couple of minutes and then decided to hightail it back to shore...which was about 500 yards away. He followed us 1/2 way back before losing interest and during the entire time he followed us he got within inches of us multiple times. I was never in a good position to poke him or push him away, which I'm sure would have startled him and made him leave.
I know he'd couldn't eat me but I certainly didn't want him striking the camera to biting me anywhere else because it certainly wouldn't end well for me.
Anyway, I'll stick to photographing small cudas while I'm on the flats and only photograph the big ones when scuba diving.

 

[LeeParrish]

When snorkeling in water that had limited visibility and a lot of barracuda in Puerto Rico they advised us to not wear anything flashy since they often will strike anything flashy, especially in low light or viz. I've used my stainless steel watch to get their attention in the past, flash it a few times and they will often at least give you a good looking over. Barracuda a sight feeders, and are attracted to almost anything flashy. That fish may have been attracted to the flash and then it was curious to see if maybe a small fish was hiding in the area. They will also often hunt under or around floating debris since it will attract small fish and provide them some cover to ambush prey.