How dangerous are triggerfish?

[tomcat]

Hey DocVinkingo

Great, i mean terrible stories of people getting hit by triggers. These are exactly the kinds of situations that i get irritated about.

Gotta be constantly watching out for these buggers when diving in an area that they frequent or you might end up face to face with one in a bad mood by mistake.

Wonder if there are any simple remedies to not spotting an angry one in time.

tomcat

 

[DennisW]

Trigger Fish dangerous? I would say not. They won't eat you alive anyway. It does look like one can take a pretty neat chunk of flesh though if he decides he wants to bite. So, it depends upon what you call dangerous. In my opinion, if an animal has any incidences of killing divers, then it is dangerous. Triggers aren't dangerous, they may hurt, but they aren't dangerous.
Barracuda dangerous? If you're in a boat, they are pretty dangerous :grrr:. This past summer, several boaters (mostly people fishing) were attacked in the boat by Barracudas. If I remember correctly, at least one person was severely injured. I've never seen a Barracuda bother a diver. They are curious and will watch you, but if you move toward them, they leave. I've never been afraid around a Barracuda, so no, I don't consider them dangerous either.

 

[greg somers]

hey hammer....french fries? hahahaha
Maybe it's time for some of you guys to get back in the gym so no damned fish will kick sand in your faces anymore..lol
We kill so many of them in fish and chips and in tins that maybe they've taken out a contract on some of us and the trigger fish are the oceans hitmen....heheh.
Pass the tartare sauce I say !!!!

 

[uwsince79]

Barracuda are not dangerous. But they can be if your not careful. Trigger fish my bite but so does my dog. And be careful I have a very mean attack cat....

 

[The Chairman]

Hey all,

We have a lake about an hours drive from here called Lake Isis. There is a platform sunk at about 30 ft so we do SCUBA classes there. The problem is the freakin' brim... thousands of 'em all over, all looking for a hand-out. If you grab a fresh water mussel and open it they will descend on you like the plague... biting and grabbing at the morsel in your hand. If you float really still they will bite ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING on you... your ear lobes, your hair, your pinky... they are voracious. Too bad Hitchcock never made a movie about them... Sunfish!!! It could be bigger than Jaws...

Pete from Orlando...

 

[ScubaBaby]

A lot of webpages are about triggerfish in captivity - here are two i have found that are informative:

http://saltaquarium.tqn.com/pets/saltaquarium/bltrigfam.htm

http://waquarium.mic.hawaii.edu/MLP/root/html/MarineLife/Vertebrates/ReefTrigger.html

 

[jeffweiss]

Hey I take it all back. I just returned from diving St. Lucia and OH MY GODDD the size of dem Queen Triggers was frightening.............One was SO aggresive it ran into my wide angle lens, while chasing me..........not!

But seriously folks, St. Lucia Diving was awesome, even if the dive operator, Scuba St. Lucia, was a bit rigid on it's rules. The islands got 2 fair sized mountains--called "the Pitons" on the south western shore (leeward) and there are 3 more down below, with walls dropping off to 500 or 600 feet. Because the dive sites are in the lee of the island, the seas are flat & calm, and vis is about 150 to 200 feet. No big fish though, but great coral, turtle, small grouper,angles, triggers , etc.... A Good place to go to relax and enjoy.

AJW

 

[The Chairman]

Hey Jeff,

So what rules were they strict on???

Pete from Orlando...

 

[gregor]

howdy folks,

what i know about triggerfish is that they can be dangerous. here's two situations where they like to attack:

1. when they're nesting (as described b4)
2. when they are eating

2. is no joke - they're just gready and don't want to share their food with anybody - even you.

this quite agressive species of triggerfish is found in south-east-asia (malaysia, thailand) - at least that's where i saw them.

i know of an incident that a triggerfish bit a diver and ribbed off a peace of his cheek. it has also happened that a triggerfish just bumped with full speed into a diver's chest, and a rip was broken.

those two incidents i know of personally and they happened nearby perhentian, malaysia (a beautiful island!).

when a triggerfish get's aggressiv or is scared, they usually don't move but are moving their fins in a wavy movement. if you see this, freeze and go *slowly* backward.

i don't know about the species in us, australia etc. the species i described is found in south-east asia.

just keep one thing in mind: don't disturb marine lifem keep distance and only leave bubbles.

regards from cologne, germany

gregor

 

[tomcat]

Hey Gregor,

I think you are referring to the Titan Triggerfish. Those are the buggers that I keep bumping into around these parts (east coast of peninsula malaysia).

They sort of have a black line going down the side of their cheeks with purple and i think yellow patches on their sides.

These dudes are fairly big sized (abt 50 cm) and their teeth are visible from a good distance away.

tomcat