How dangerous are triggerfish?

[DocVikingo]

On 04-17-01, board member "tomcat" posted this question, which received lots of replies. A number of those replies failed to distinguish between the aggressive species, e.g., titan triggerfish, and other less pugnacious species. Other replies were simply uninformed overall.

Rick Murchison cited an experience of his, and went on to ask for other actual examples of run-ins with triggerfish. In response, I provided these:

"1. I got attacked by a triggerfish,while Divemastering(+)
Author: Dougdive
Date: 04-14-00 11:03

My diver was getting bit and I had to draw the bastard off him him and onto me. Luckily it was small. On another day, my friend( a shop owner), got bit on the head by a big one.Drew blood .Par for the day ,during some seasons(Titan Trigger). I've heard of people getting their nose broken."

2. "I too was attacked and bitten+
Author: Blue Largo
Date: 04-14-00 11:36

by a clown trigger in Malaysia two years ago, I still have scars on my calf hurt like hell too! Bad part was I didn't have my video gear otherwise I think I would have made it on 'When Animals Attack.'"

3."And they are b.....ds! I have a nice scar from my own nasty encounter...(+)
Author: Stef
Date: 08-10-00 05:33

while diving on the GBR in Oct. of '98. I had never seen a Bast....er, Titan Triggerfish before and had no idea of their potential viciousness. A friend and I were diving from the 'Supersport' and the ship's photo pro was video taping the two of us. At about 60', exiting a cavern, I came face to face with a monster-sized Titan. In less than 15 seconds, it gave me a warning rush, followed immediately by an attack to my hairline that resulted in a nickel-sized chunk taken out of my head right down to the skull! It was such a hard hit that it knocked me backwards. This is a big, solid Bast...er, fish. I turned around to see the look of horror on my buddy's face, and the photographer motioning for me to swim toward him, while the attacker continued to go after my fins.

When I reached them, my buddy grabbed my hand and put it to my head where I felt a flap of skin and saw huge clouds of green. Big problem! By the time I surfaced (after a safety stop), blood was pouring down my face and mask and my head felt like it was hit by a Mack truck. The guys on deck were horrified because it looked much worse than it really was.

After an attempt by the lead DM to stitch the flap of skin back over the skull (I didn't resort to alcohol - I wanted to go in for the next dive!), we ended up pouring betadine on it and fashioning a web of butterfly bandages. Now, a couple years later, it has healed nicely but there is still a pretty good scar under the hairline. And let me tell you....not many things strike terror into me when I'm diving, but those...ok, I'll say it...
Bastards!!! are certainly capable."

Here is another very recent one:

" "When Fish Attack" Kwaj style
Author: T.J.
Date: 05-24-01 06:57

It's triggerfish nesting season again. Heard a report from Kwaj of a diver getting a good bite to his face. That had to hurt.

Yesterday it was another day at Speedball to play with the sharks but the sharks didn't want to play. I could barely make out our resident hammerhead among the deep gray surroundings. Not one of the better days at Speedball. Viz was down to about 80ft with less viz in the first 10ft.

I was with Mark A., a AOW student making his first dive at Speedball and my usual buddy Roger and a new guy here, Mark K., tagged along and did their own thing. It was one of those days where a lot of little things where going wrong. Nothing serious, but annoying nonetheless.

Mark and I was doing the "ocean" dive for his AOW, which for here is pretty sleazy. Its basically just another dive but I cover some things like local currents and wildlife, like mentioning its triggerfish nesting season. I tried baiting him on the planned max depth but he didn't bite. I planned a max of 90ft but I went to 100 to see if he would follow. He didn't. Good student.

Near the end of the dive, I thought I saw the distinctive dorsal fins of a large titan triggerfish and stopped dead in my tracks and motioned to Mark A. to stop also. I suspected this titan trigger was one of the fish reported to be aggressive by Roger earlier in the week. We gave him a wide berth. We unfouled the anchors and got them ready to pull up and otherwise just floating along the coral doing our safety stops. I notice Mark K getting close to the triggerfish and the fish would make half hearted passes at him. I was about to swim towards him to warn him but I guess the fish was tired of warning passes and headed straight for Mark K's legs.

At first it seemed like Mark didn't notice the fish biting him. Mark later explained that he thought he might have just grazed some coral but then realized, "Hey, I'm 20ft away from any coral!" and looked down and there is a large (about 2ft long) titan triggerfish munching on his leg and darting back and forth. Even though I was about 30ft away from him, I could clearly hear the "Fucmmpphhh!!!!". It was the fastest I've ever seen Mark K swim yet.

Now the thing I was really worried about was just over the wall ledge, there were about 15 sharks. I remembered how quickly sharks showed up when filming a shark feeding frenzy last year. I didn't see any blood coming from Mark K but I motioned for him to ascend now and get out of the water just in case. As luck would have it, the path Mark chose to make his ascent went directly over our aggravated trigger and he was still pissed. Made another pass at Mark but didn't bite this time. Mark never saw it this time.

We checked out the battle scars on the boat and it wasn't as bad as we thought but it still broke the skin and drew blood. Made a nice circular bite about the size of a half dollar."

Best regards.

DocVikingo

[scubakat]

A. Where do these Ba****s live?

B. Where can I see a picture of one?

C. Can they bite through 7-5-3mm of neoprene?

-kate

[detroit diver]

I'd like to see a pic of one also if anyone's got one. Might have to wear a helmet and protective cup if I'm in the area!

[detroit diver]

http://www.scubadiving.com/talk/read.php?f=1&i=287694&t=287689

Great looking fish! Too bad they eat you.

[DocVikingo]

They are a rather attractive fish -
http://www.saudidiving.com/images/Zoch%20Gallery/cz-trident-triggerfish-large.jpg


with some bodacious chompers- http://www.islandream.com/p_mald20.htm


They can bite through neoprene, but because of a nipping type bite they often don't pierce anthing beyond 3mm or so.

Enjoy.

DocVikingo

[detroit diver]

That second pic has better/larger teeth than some people that I know! Wouldnt' want that sampling my epidermal layer. (That is the top layer of skin, isnt it?)

[rcohn]

I've heard it said that if trigger fish were the size of sharks no one would go diving. I've gotten close to some but fortunately they showed no interest in me, I assume is wasn't nesting season.

Ralph

[robert]

I too have been the victim of a trigger fish. I was diving in the Phuket area. I was about 40 feet down, when one blindsided me in the head. It knocked my mask partly off and my first though was that someone dropped an anchor on my head. Less that a second later, another one attacked me and knocked my reg out of my mouth, so now I have a flooded mask and no reg. Since I didn't see either one, I still didn't know what happened. Once I got my gear back together I surfaced and that is when I found out what happened from the group I was diving with, they saw the whole thing. They are mean, I was bleeding in two places on my head.
...robert

[detroit diver]

Phuket, I'm out of here!

[BetterLateThannever]

You're bad DD.

Let me see...hmmm....crossing Phuket off my To Do list.
Anybody else?

Jimbo

[DocVikingo]

Hi robert,

Wow, that was an attack with potentialy life-threatening consequences. Way to keep you cool.

Not really fair to single out Phuket, however, as these jaspers are found over a wide distribution in the Indo-Pacific. They can be encountered from the Red Sea south to nearly South Africa, as far north as southern Japan, as far south as New Caledonia, and throughout Micronesia.

Be careful out there.

DocVikingo

[keralucu]

DD... har har....

But seriously, I'm going to Phuket and Similan next year... this whole triggerfish thing is a bit freaky. One of my mates has a big scar on his leg from getting attacked at Koh Tao (Gulf of Siam) - and I thought it was just sharks I had to worry about! (Just kidding)

I used to see lots of triggerfish (assorted) when snorkelling off the East Coast of Bali but never knew that they could get nasty... OW!

:p

[greg somers]

Bite back I say !!!! Give em a taste of your pearly whites and pass the tartare sauce.That should scare them off.
Were any of the wounded feeding the fish while they got attacked by the finned fiends? One should not feed a lion and stay behind to brush its teeth aswell.Snatch those digits back real quick or you deserve to lose them.
Cheers all ears...

[Mark Davies]

I've just posted a picture of the Titan Trigger fish on the gallery. At the time I didn't realise they were dangerous and took several close ups (Red Sea Ras Mohammed). In the evening my daughter was reading her newly purchased fish guide. "dad can I have your camera?" she asked with a knowing grin. She then previewed my photos and laughed, read this she said. "The Titan Trigger fish is one of the most agressive fishes in the Red Sea area and regularly attacks divers, especially when defending their nest. Many divers have suffered puncture injurys from their bites, some have been scared for life, avoid at all costs"

I was lucky, I decided to talk to some experienced Egypian divers, one told me his buddy was bit badly right in the middle of his forehead, he bled so badly his mask began to fill with blood, he had to suface without his mask on.

Think about it though, and if your a parent you'll know, we all do anything to protect our own.

[drbill]

I have dived with triggerfish of a number of species in many places throughout the world. We even have a small population of finescale triggerfish here off Catalina although they are not a problem... nor have they been in other areas I've dived with much larger individuals. Here's my newspaper column on our species:

Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Dive Dry Column (http://www.starthrower.org/products/DDDB/DDDB_000-049/DDDB_028%20finescale%20triggerfish.htm)

One does have to be careful with certain species, primarily during the period of mating and nest defense. Many species defend a portion of the water column above the nest that looks like an inverted funnel... it widens the farther up in the water column you go. I was told in Tahiti that the Polynesians were more concerned about the triggerfish than they were about the sharks.

Research the local species in a region you plan to dive (almost all are tropical to subtropical). Find out when their nesting season is. Keep an eye out if you are in these regions at those times.

I've never been bitten by one, but have had to kick backwards at one that attempted to bite me in Tahiti. Fortunately I saw it coming.

Agree with Mark Davies' comment about them defending their young.

[smellzlikefish]

I was diving an aquarium doing some maintenance when our titan trigger swam up and bit me on the end of the finger. I yelled in surprise and shock through my regulator so loud that the other fish jumped. It felt like I had whacked myself really hard with a mallet or something. I thought for sure it was one of the sharks in the tank and I would be looking at a stump finger for the rest of my life. When I surfaced, my middle finger had two huge bruises, one on each side.

[tridacna]

I have a large clown trigger in my big fish aquarium. (I have a separate coral reef). I had it in another and he cost me several hundred dollars before I realized that he was capable of eating anything smaller than himself. I mean anything. Believe me when you see how he destroys other fish, clams, rocks and anything else he wants, you'll give them a wide berth when diving. Different species display different levels of aggression. I have never seen a Black Dungeon attack anything but the Clown, Huma Huma and Queen can be pretty mean especially when they are nesting. My daughter calls the Clown, the Pacman fish because when they eat they gobble things up in tiny bites at high speed.

Having said all that, when diving, I've never seen a trigger display any aggression provided that you stay far away. They are not attack fish.

[kwest]

I was attacked on one of my first open water dives while getting certified in Ko Toh, Thailand. My instuctor said that the Titan Triggerfish is simply protecting it's territory which is cone-shaped. The small or pointy end of this cone is down at the bottom and the large end is near the surface, all you have to do is stay calm and swim laterally out of the cone. I only got bit once and it didn't really hurt - this was a pretty big sucker too. I'll be honest it was exhilirating and kind of humorous. In the end I just felt more confident about my skills. The biggest danger in my opinion is not from the triggerfish, but from failing to stay calm. The other student with me panicked and swam straight to the surface. Luckily we were only at a depth of about 15-20 feet.

-Kevin

[djtimmy77]

They grey triggerfish will follow you around the reefs here. I have heard of them biting too but haven't seen that myself yet.

[Rickg]

Here are several more links on the subject. While the only trigger fish I've been attacked by was a Titan Triggerfish, while in the Maldives we came across an area that was covered with nest of Yellow-margin Triggerfish and the DM steered us well clear of that area. After the dive he said the Yellow-margins are also known to attack divers when they are nesting and the too get quite large.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/marine-life-ecosystems/57143-trigger-fish-behaviour.html

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/marine-life-ecosystems/1202-how-dangerous-triggerfish.html

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/marine-life-ecosystems/135878-titan-triggerfish-2.html

I'm just thankful the Titan's don't get any bigger than they do :-)

[RikRaeder]

I had a terrifying encounter with Titan Triggers while I was drift diving with a group of eight and two guides in the South China Sea. When we surfaced, the boat wasn't around. We floated along in a loose group for a bit, but the boat was nowhere to be seen. The guide assured us that this happens sometimes, so we just stayed together and floated with the current. After a couple of hours, we started getting a bit worried. That's when the Titans came cruising. Big suckers, bigger than your forearm. We all packed together into a square, back to back, like one of those old, Napoleonic battles; like you'd see on a calendar. Well, the Titan would come and we'd all start thrashing and yelling and beating the water. Sometimes the Titan'd go away, and sometimes he wouldn't go away. When the Titan come in and sink his teeth in someone, you'd hear the scream. That's what I remember, that high pitched scream, then the water'd turn all red and people thrashing and hollering. We must have lost four the first night. I remember, in the morning, I saw a friend of mine, Herbie Hancock from Ohio. I reached over to wake him up, and he upended...Titan had bitten him in half under the BCD. I'll never where a BCD again. Anyway, that's how we delivered the...
Hey wait. Sorry. That was the story of the Indianapolis from Jaws. Duh. Titan Triggers? Oh, they're a bit aggressive sometimes.

[marinediva]

I have an unnatural fear of Titan triggers.
This was caused by attack after attack after attack.
I watched someone loose a portion of his ear, and it bit through a mask of someone else on a different occasion.

The scariest thing I have witnessed was two divers trying to manouver themselves through a trigger fish breeding area with up to fifteen of the buggers making moves on them.

In PNG they do not seem as aggressive as Thailand, and I wonder is the lack of contact they have here compared to there. This does not stop me freezing up when I see them.

Originally I was told to get into quick reverse, and move sideways, I am convinced some of these fish identify a quick reverse as an agressive move and so now just stay still as I can till it looses interest.

These guys may look great but they are dangerous although not life threatening.
:)

[kevinj1]

I have actually been chased a few times, but they never got to sink any teeth into me thankfully...

[geokr]

I made the mistake of putting a few shrimp from the lunch buffet in my BC to attract some fish to photograph on the next dive (Agincourt Reef near Port Douglas). After crumbling them into chum and being surrounded by hungry fish, these guys came along looking for their share but I was fresh out. They were pretty aggresive so I began swimming backwards to get away from the area as fast as possible and snapped this picture as this one followed me. Never again! Some chops on this guy, huh!

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/data/3822/medium/DSC003101.jpg

[BDAfreediver]

I have been bitten by a Trigger fish on a few occasions. They can be nasty and do some damage but I have to admit it most of the occasions was my own fault. I was not paying attention and just go too close to their niche in the rock and they became agressive to protect themselves.

Best as in diving, snorkeling free diving is too always be aware of your surroundings. Animals give precursors to aggression even if they are quick and short lived always best to back away if you see any unusual behavior. Trigger fish are no sweet fish I have to admit, keep some distance! They can give a nasty bite as a few divers have gone through!