Attacked by ???

[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!!!

 

[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 . 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 .....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!!!

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 . 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 .....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

 

[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

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.