Husband bit while diving on Venice Beach

[Scubadubes]

My husband and I were diving at Venice Public Beach today and he was bitten by an aggressive little fish. We thought this fish was cute at first because it was so "friendly". It kept swimming close to us and actually let us touch it. Then, all of a sudden, it swam quickly up to my husband's face and took a little chunk out of his lip. It was a nastly little bite that bled for about 5 or 10 minutes and made his lip swell up. I have heard about these little fish trying to bite diver's fingers. It was about 6 inches long and almost looked like a miniature parrot fish, but lighter in color, with predominantly pink coloring. It had tiny little stripes along it's body. Mostly pink, with some yellow mixed in. We are just curious what type of fish this is that likes to bite unsuspecting divers . Does any one know?

 

[Beachlover]

My husband and I were diving at Venice Public Beach today and he was bitten by an aggressive little fish. We thought this fish was cute at first because it was so "friendly". It kept swimming close to us and actually let us touch it. Then, all of a sudden, it swam quickly up to my husband's face and took a little chunk out of his lip. It was a nastly little bite that bled for about 5 or 10 minutes and made his slip swell up. I have heard about these little fish trying to bite diver's fingers. It was about 6 inches long and almost looked like a miniature parrot fish, but lighter in color, with predominantly pink coloring. It had tiny little stripes along it's body. Mostly pink, with some yellow mixed in. We are just curious what type of fish this is that likes to bite unsuspecting divers . Does any one know?

It might be a surprise lip biter.

 

[rhadamantus]

could be a trigger fish. though in PI, they like chasing divers and biting the fins more than anything.

 

[spt29970]

It might have been a gray triggerfish. They are known to be aggressive.

Florida Museum of Natural History Ichthyology Department

 

[Scubadubes]

It was longer and thinner than a trigger fish. Good guess, though.

 

[dkramer]

A few weeks ago, I had a similar experience at Alhambra.This little fish just followed me everywhere & would let me rub his belly. It was not one of the usual grunts that follow you around, waiting for you to stir up the bottom. I'm no expert on fish ID but I wanted to call him a rainbow wrasse. He didn't try to bite me though. I've had some of the grunts take a nip at me if they thought I wasn't stirring up the bottom fast enough.

 

[sharkboy1515]

rainbow wrasse's are very aggresive fish. they tend to be alittle smaller in size (under a foot) and are navy blue (mainly) with some yellow, orange and pink mixed in. I used to have one in my 75 gallon fish tank and it ate and bit everything. It is a good guess but I dont know if they live in the Gulf area.. they tend to stick to warm tropical sea's around reef's.

 

[Scubadubes]

I found a picture of a rainbow wrasse on the internet and it looks really close to me. I showed it to my husband and he agreed. He said it is either a rainbow wrasse (based on that picture) or a fish that looks very, very similar. And this fish was VERY aggressive. After it bit his lip, it kept coming back to us throughout the dive. After the first experience, we were very wary of him and shooed him away as quickly as we could. Look out for rainbow wrasses (or anything that looks like one and is really "friendly")!!!

 

[DiveBandit]

I was going to guess Wrasse from the get-go. At the Florida Aquarium we've had the exact same scenario happen where a diver cleaning the tanks has been bit on the lip by a seemingly friendly little Wrasse. The fact that this little guy let you touch him is interesting as the ones at the Aquarium won't let us touch them, (and it's against policy for us to try). Hope your wound heals quickly so you can resume diving.

 

[Scubadubes]

Wow that's interesting. I wonder why they go for the lips? Maybe because they look really white underwater? I have heard of other divers who are looking for sharks teeth getting their fingers bitten, but we always wear gloves. Yes, this fish let us touch him but very briefly.