Things That Almost Bit You

[RobJax]

Bobbit Worm? Kind of makes me wonder what body part it has been nipping off to get that name....

 

[Peter_C]

Not me, but someone got attacked by a shark at Catalina last year.

[video=youtube;5P5zHhrWKWA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P5zHhrWKWA[/video]

I have never been bitten while scuba diving underwater...oh wait, well I guess like others the Sea Lions and harbor seals are known to play bite. Now while swimming. Pesky Bluegill!

The worst attack I have ever experienced was an otter at the Breakwater while hanging out on the surface. It was ravaging an instructors tube, then promptly swam over to me and started biting my fin. Cute at first but on round two I flicked my fin.

 

[jnunn04]

My wife was getting certified (a few years ago) when she was 12 in a local quarry. She was performing the mask removal drill and a bluegill swam in, grabbed and eyelash and swam away with it. She continued the drill and got certified, of course! They can be agressive sometimes.... (I am referring to the fish)

 

[Diver0001]

(I am referring to the fish)

your wife must be pretty cool headed!

I don't know if this qualifies as "nearly bitten" but I did have an experience with a shark once that I wouldn't want to repeat.

We were diving Elphinstone reef (Egypt). It's known for sightings of Oceanic Whitetips and other large sharks (if you go deep enough).

We went there via zodiac and there was a pretty strong current. The group rolled off together but in the process my buddy's mask came loose. I descended to 5 metres to wait for her and she spent about 30 seconds on the surface splashing around and getting the mask back on before descending.

Once she caught up with me at 5 metres we had drifted far enough from the reef (about 40 meters off, I guess) that I couldn't see the reef but I could see a diver who was swimming in the direction of the reef. We were out in the blue. We started swimming to catch up with the diver we could see and descended to about 10m in the process.

Then I saw some movement on the other side of my buddy. I checked over her shoulder and out the blue an ENORMOUS Oceanic Whitetip was swimming straight at us at high speed. Back arched, Pectoral fins straight down..... he was definitely NOT thinking, "fish are friends, not food"

My first thought was "WOW", and then "FFUUUUUUU"

It swam right up to us. I honestly thought it was going to plow straight into us without even slowing down but at the last second it changed direction and went into circling. It was longer than my buddy by quite a bit. I estimated it at about 3 metres.

Meanwhile we made best time to the reef and started hugging the reef wall when we got there so it couldn't circle anymore and then it left.

It's the only time ever during a dive that I was frightened by an animal. In terms of the fear factor it rates right up there with the time I got attacked by an elephant (my fault). Definitely not something you want to happen twice.

R..

 

[vladimir]

I was freedive spearfsihing in the Bahamas in relatively shallow water of like 35 feet and was a hundred yards away from the boat and everyone else. Two reef sharks had been hanging around, one about 3 feet long and the other maybe 5 ft. The larger one was considerably less than 100 lbs, so i was not really worried, plus they would not come closer than 30 ft from me.

So I chased down this one small snapper (holding my breath of course) and was pretty much out of time and made a long shot with my spear sling. I made a bad shot and the fish was impaled near the tail and was thrashing around. Normally i would swim to the end of the shaft, grab the fish and immobilize it, then head for the surface.

However, I was spent, having arose at 3: 00 am and driving across to the Bahamas in the early morning and then diving all day. I grabbed the butt end of the shaft and left the fish dangling from the other end, with the flopper preventing him from sliding off. As I ascended, i saw BOTH sharks rocketing in at the fish. I figured this fish was history, so I dropped the shaft during the ascent when the sharks were just a few feet from the fthrashing fish. The shaft and fish began to sink and I was just a little upset that I was gonna lose the fish.

To my utter surprise, both sharks turned from the fish and came rocketing toward me as I scambled toward the surface. They had their mouths open and the larger one was one foot from my face in an instant. I instinctively began punching it in the head, but was not hitting it that hard because he was so close to me. I probably delivered 3-4 blows in 2 seconds. I was completely freaked out, but continued the scamble toward the surface, When I hit the surface, both calves went into full blown spasms (you would think the hamstrings would cramp) but it was the calves. I screamed shark! and then they just immediately turned and shot down and took the fish (that was now laying on the bottom on my spear).

That always works—they hate the opprobrium, police, etc.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

About the most traumatic encounter I ever had was with a clownfish. Who knew the litte b*st*rds BITE! Next time I watch "Finding Nemo" I'm cheering for the barracuda ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DiverAmy]

A couple of weeks ago, I had a sergeant major trying to dine on my fin tip in Bonaire. That was amusing to watch as he'd "chomp" down on it, back up a couple of inches then come back for another bite.

I have had numerous instances of Sgt Majors attacking my yellow striped jet fins. Somewhere I have a picture of one off of Nassau, Bahamas relentlessly attacking me. Thus far it is the blue/black ones rather than the yellow/black. Occasionally, I have been startled by the strength these little guys exhibit yanking on my fin. Once, on the Spiegel grove a damsel fish bit my glove tip in much the same manner. Clearly, this species sees me as a major nest threat!

 

[Searcaigh]

The only thing that has bitten me was an anemonefish in the Red Sea ... agree with Bob .... these things are viscous

 

[jameseg]

I've been bitten by two things. The first was a shark. Luckily, it was just a baby horn shark, at about 12 or 14 inches long. And it was completely my fault - I had picked it up off the sea bed to show my buddy (I was 14 or 15 at the time).

The second was a large turtle in Hawaii, also 20+ years ago. This one was completely unprovoked, though, and the DM with us said she had never seen that before. Didn't draw blood or anything - just a little nip on the thigh.

My only other related experience was a very large morey in California that took an interest in my fin and came out of it's hole after me. Probably the fasted I've ever moved in scuba gear.

James

 

[highdesert]

Titan trigger fish in Indonesia. I've never actually been bitten, but threatened pretty often. Most of the time, it's just a bluff, but it's not unusual for them to take a chunk out of your fin ... or your head. You want to keep your eye on them if they're around you. If you see one, or a pair, hovering about three meters above the bottom, noses pointed downward, it's a sure sign they're guarding a nest, and feeling very defensive.