Attacked by ???

[ozziworld]

I have been diving for around twenty years and personally cannot say I have been 'attacked' by any marine animal. Today, my daughter was diving with me in Anilao in the Philippines and she was attacked by a Titan Trigger Fish. She was attacked also by Titan Triggerfish last year after she was newly certified.

Am curious about what other marine life actually ''attack" divers. What marine animal has actually attacked you with intent to do damage. I mean unprovoked without chum in the water.

I do not count jellyfish stings or other accidental encounters. Just interested in deliberate attacks to do harm to a diver.

I believe the Tita Trigger Fish we encounter frequently, attack because of nests they are protecting in the area.

Please post any experiences that may be of interest in this topic.

[Zippsy]

I get attacked all the time by damsel fish (who cares?), clown fish (who cares?) and titan trigger fish (I care!!!). I've been attacked three times, only once when I was confirmed to be near a nest. Another time I am certain no nest was nearby and the last time we were a good 40 meters away from the nest and watching a pair chase away any fish within 10 meters when one of them came for us. Titans are the only things I fear underwater and they are the reason those things we wear are called "wet" suits.

[H2Andy]

trigger fish are known to be territorial

it's best to stay away from them

damselfish are also territorial ... the only fish that have ever bitten me

[Deefstes]

From what I understand Titan Triggerfish (and other Triggerfish) protect their nest in a conical zone upwards from the nest. In other words, when you get a frisky Triggerfish it is best to swim away and down (not up). That is the quickest way to get out of the conical zone.

[Zippsy]

I've heard that cone theory before and it always cracks me up. Not only does it not make any sense but no one ever told the trigger fish how it is supposed to work. I have observed them very often (too often!) not obeying that particular law or nature. It's funny how the theory spreads but I have heard our own DMs telling customers this "old dives tale".

[smellzlikefish]

I was bitten on the finger by a titan in a fish tank. Hurt like a $%^&. But I was in its environment and blah blah blah.

I did watch my buddy ALMOST get attacked by a cookie cutter shark. By almost, I mean the shark bee-lined out of the blackness of the pelagic night dive and stopped literally a foot away from his turned back. My buddy had no idea until he watched the thing cruise right by his arm. With no way to alert him, I looked at his mom who was diving with us, but she had her camera poised and ready.

[ozziworld]

Hmm, this is interesting. So far only damsel and trigger fish stories. Where are the sharks, rays, morays, octopus etc.? I thought I would get more responses to this thread but I guess uprovoked attack kinda excludes most attacks.

Anyway, I would be glad to see more stories that would enlighten us on the aggressive animals in the ocean environment.

Thanks for sharing.

[BobbyT22]

Pumpkinseed sunfish..about 4 inches long. Went after the eyelashes on my right eye while I was doing some valve drills with my mask off for practice. Left a mark too. I laughed so hard I almost had to surface.

[toefa]

My wife was attacked by a territorial Giant Cuttle fish. Didn't do ant damage though, she managed to uppercut it in the end and it fled. It just kept going for her face and freaked her out.

This was the exact one moments after she got away:

YouTube - Scuba Diving Shellharbour Sun 10 May 2009 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0JfaR_-Bzk)

[Deefstes]

I've heard that cone theory before and it always cracks me up. Not only does it not make any sense but no one ever told the trigger fish how it is supposed to work. I have observed them very often (too often!) not obeying that particular law or nature. It's funny how the theory spreads but I have heard our own DMs telling customers this "old dives tale".

I won't vouch for the theory but I don't understand your comments.
"Not only does it not make sense" - why not? Seems perfectly logical to me. Whether or not it's true I don't know but there's nothing nonsensical about it as far as I can tell.

"no one ever told the trigger fish how it is supposed to work" - talk about being nonsensical. This is like saying, no one ever told Clownfish to associate with certain anemones. Of course no one ever told them that but the fact that they do it can't be denied. If certain behaviour is observed in animals, it doesn't become false just because no one ever told the animals to behave that way - even if they sometimes act contrary to the generally accepted pattern. That would be nonsensical.

Like I said, I have no idea what the veracity of this theory is but I have heard it and read about it very often (too often). If it is an "old dives tale" it must be a spectacular myth as it certainly is widely believed.

[miketsp]

In the last 8 years, the only incident we had with aggressive fauna was with a Remora or sucker fish.
We were coming up from a wreck dive in NE Brazil and we had a fair amount of deco to pay. We were the the last pair up and while we were floating at our 9m stop the DM was above us at a 3m stop. We noticed when she appeared to get a little agitated and then we saw a good sized Remora, a couple of ft, swimming around her. We didn't think much of it as we've had Remoras come in and try to attach themselves to us in the past.
Anyway, she cleared her 3m stop and left the water and we moved up to 6m.
The Remora immediately transferred its attention to us and bored in. It became immediately obvious that its intentions were nothing friendly - when I made a friendly hand wave it tried to bite my finger. I ended up throwing a series of punches at it and various times I hit it hard with my fin, slicing the fin sideways in the water to reduce resistance. I was reluctant to start waving a knife around close to my buddy. So we just kept a careful watch and kept fending it off.
The fish was obviously really aggressive. Every time anything floated by in the water the fish would leave us, attack the object, chew it up and then come back to us.
When we finally completed our obligatory stops and we managed to get back on the boat I asked the DM and she said that the same Remora, a couple of days before, had ripped open another diver's armpit - resulting in quite a few stitches being required.
Back at the base we discussed it with a marine biologist and apparently this behaviour can arise when the sucker muscle on the head of the fish gets damaged - they can no longer attach to a host and so lose easy access to their food supply. As a result they become really hungry and basic survival instinct kicks in.

[Pearldiver07]

I've been attacked (but have avoided being bitten) by Titan Triggerfish.

But you don't know true horror until you've faced the "killer" perch of CSSP, Terrel TX. Your ears will never be the same again!!!:D

[ScubaSteve]

I won't vouch for the theory but I don't understand your comments.
"Not only does it not make sense" - why not? Seems perfectly logical to me. Whether or not it's true I don't know but there's nothing nonsensical about it as far as I can tell.

"no one ever told the trigger fish how it is supposed to work" - talk about being nonsensical. This is like saying, no one ever told Clownfish to associate with certain anemones. Of course no one ever told them that but the fact that they do it can't be denied. If certain behaviour is observed in animals, it doesn't become false just because no one ever told the animals to behave that way - even if they sometimes act contrary to the generally accepted pattern. That would be nonsensical.

Like I said, I have no idea what the veracity of this theory is but I have heard it and read about it very often (too often). If it is an "old dives tale" it must be a spectacular myth as it certainly is widely believed.

I too have only been viciously attached on several occasions by Damsel fish so huge they had to be a couple inches long :D. And on at least a couple of occasions, I got my face a little too close so they bit my forehead.....so this was my fault and not theirs.

As for Deefstes' comments, I agree. There are many things in nature that may not make sense to us, but that does not mean they are any less factual or true. And, just like humans, the fish are hard coded with certain information (such as the clown/anemone association) so nobody needs to "tell them" anything per se. As for witnessing other behaviours......it is possible there were other factors at play such as: no nest, other predators or many others so I ould not rule it out on this (that is just me though). I do agree that the conical theory sounds ludicrous, but I will remember the swim away and down theory next time :D.....just in case it is true.

[Deefstes]

I'm no expert but it really doesn't sound very ludicrous to me. I think it is fairly accurate to assume that most threats to a Triggerfish's nest will come from above so it only makes sense to me that they will protect their nest from intruders above it more aggressively than they would against intruders to the side and below it.

As with birds (which I know a fair bit better than fish) it is often not in an animal's best interest to protect it's nest if the "intruder" is not even aware of the nest yet. An intruder in the conical zone above the nest would be far more likely to have already spotted the nest than one that is swimming towards the nest from the side. I can imagine that the Triggerfish might prefer to let that intruder go in the hope that it might not even see the nest rather than to attack it, giving the presence of the nest away.

[maged_mmh]

But you don't know true horror until you've faced the "killer" perch of CSSP, Terrel TX. Your ears will never be the same again!!!:D
huh? :huh:
I too have only been viciously attached on several occasions by Damsel fish so huge they had to be a couple inches long :D. And on at least a couple of occasions, I got my face a little too close so they bit my forehead.....so this was my fault and not theirs.

As for Deefstes' comments, I agree. There are many things in nature that may not make sense to us, but that does not mean they are any less factual or true. And, just like humans, the fish are hard coded with certain information (such as the clown/anemone association) so nobody needs to "tell them" anything per se. As for witnessing other behaviours......it is possible there were other factors at play such as: no nest, other predators or many others so I ould not rule it out on this (that is just me though). I do agree that the conical theory sounds ludicrous, but I will remember the swim away and down theory next time :D.....just in case it is true.
if that theory has the slightest 0.000001% chance of success, I'd follow it instead of just sitting there being nipped by a fish :D

[ScubaSteve]

huh? :huh:

if that theory has the slightest 0.000001% chance of success, I'd follow it instead of just sitting there being nipped by a fish :D

As I said, I am with you on that one.

[drl]

The only thing that has ever attacked me underwater was a bluegill at Haigh Quarry. One day late in the summer I was diving without a hood (silly me!) near the south dock, when a bluegill swam up and bit my chin! He drew blood, and I had a neat circle of teeth marks all the way around my chin. Explaining that at work the next day was amusing!

[timegan]

What's in a name? Trigger fish....go figure..LOL......But GILBOA in Ohio...The 10+ pound Bass, trout, will mob you in moments after splash in. A giant stride= dinner bell. They don't bite....but you will be mobbed....buddy will vanish before your eyes. Try doin a dry suit "feet float recovery" with 100 or so giant fish all around...fun though

[Zippsy]

I won't vouch for the theory but I don't understand your comments.
"Not only does it not make sense" - why not? Seems perfectly logical to me. Whether or not it's true I don't know but there's nothing nonsensical about it as far as I can tell.

"no one ever told the trigger fish how it is supposed to work" - talk about being nonsensical. This is like saying, no one ever told Clownfish to associate with certain anemones. Of course no one ever told them that but the fact that they do it can't be denied. If certain behaviour is observed in animals, it doesn't become false just because no one ever told the animals to behave that way - even if they sometimes act contrary to the generally accepted pattern. That would be nonsensical.

Like I said, I have no idea what the veracity of this theory is but I have heard it and read about it very often (too often). If it is an "old dives tale" it must be a spectacular myth as it certainly is widely believed.
Sorry Deefstes. I didn't mean to be sounding critical of you but re-reading my post, I see that it does sound that way. As far as the inverted cone goes, whenever I see fish trying to attack a nest to get to the eggs, most do come along the bottom and the triggers do chase them very far along the bottom. Also, I would think a fish a meter away along the bottom is more of a threat than one two meters above. Regarding the "no one told the triggerfish how he should act", that was sort of a joke.

[fisheyeview]

I had a trigger follow me for over 20 minutes on a drift dive. I had to repeatedly fend it off with my camera. I made sure to turn the dome port away from it when I would jab it. I didn't want it to break the dome.

[drbill]

The Tahitians supposedly fear triggerfish more than sharks. Many triggers will defend an inverted cone above their nest site on the bottom, expanding outward as you approach the surface. Swim into that cone and risk having a chunk taken out of your leg. I've been attacked a few times, but when they saw the size of my German tree stumps they fled in terror.

[Zippsy]

I surrender. :p

[Deefstes]

I surrender. :p
LOL, this is starting to get quite funny. You have got me wondering now how true that theory really is. Dr. Bill, do you know perhaps how authentic it is or is there a chance of it just being a popular story that seems plausible and is promulgated by so many divers that it has been accepted as fact by now?

As far as the inverted cone goes, whenever I see fish trying to attack a nest to get to the eggs, most do come along the bottom and the triggers do chase them very far along the bottom.Like I said, I can't claim to know fish. I have a fair bit of experience and a passable knowledge of birds though so I'm basically just extrapolating - often incorrectly I would imagine. I'm sure you are far more suited than me to comment on something like this.

Also, I would think a fish a meter away along the bottom is more of a threat than one two meters above.True, but I think its also safe to say that a fish a meter away that have not spotted the nest yet poses less of a threat than the one that's two meters above and have spotted the nest. I was just hypothesizing that maybe a greater percentage of fishes approaching from above pose a threat as they are more likely to have spotted the nest. But again, this is not based on any solid observations, merely speculation.

[Saspotato]

I have been attacked by damselfish many times :rofl3:, once by a very small triggerfish :D and once by a blue ring octopus :shocked:. The later was very strange behaviour and the only time I have felt threatened underwater. Seals can scare me when they appear all of a sudden (had them swim at me in low viz and it is quite a surprise when they swim at you!) but I know that to be playful behaviour not threatening. With the blue ring, it was at night and it leaped off the ground straight at my face with its tentacles out face hugger style. I wacked it with my torch and then it went for another go so I wacked it again (yes not nice thing to do to marine life but I did not want a blue ring biting my face). My buddy and I have never seen that behaviour before.

Other times I have not been sure about whether the critter was attacking or just acting odd include when a big Maori octopus jumped off a pylon at me. I was on my own that day - I have told my buddy to get any octopus attacks on me on video :rofl3: And another time a cuttlefish swam straight into my side but it quickly moved away again so I am not sure what it was doing...