Moray Eel Bites Off Diver's Thumb

[drbill]

"Attack" is hardly the appropriate word to use in these two cases. It suggests unprovoked aggressive behavior on the part of the two species. In the moray video, if true it is a case of poor vision and mistaken (or miss-taken?) identity. In the case of the trigger, it is simply defense of the nest against a perceived threat.

In both videos it seems to be a case of divers acting inappropriately. Not something I'd share with the board unless your intention was to show the stupidity of the divers involved.

 

[diverdowndh]

I've seen morays fed before, and never really liked it. The triggerfish I've heard were aggressive but like someone said, they were defending their nest and should have been left alone imho. Clearly the diver was antagonizing them.... I think I even saw a band-aid on the finger of the guy feeding the moray... duh, let's have an open cut and try to feed a carnivore, even if it is in the water!

 

[mdmbike to scuba]

The eel video was posted here http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=182211 about a week ago. Some people are complete idiots. The funny part is that they're proud of it, otherwise they wouldn't upload it to the web. I guess ignorance is bliss, and leaves you with one foot that makes you look like a cartoon character.

Billy

I guess he's got 9 more trys left.........:shakehead

 

[Buoyant1]

Not the smartest thing to do to a Moray! Unreal how they bugged that poor little guy!

Those Triggerfish are fast!

 

[Crazy Fingers]

I find that the best medicine for any triggerfish, aggressive or not, is a 3 prong paralyzer tip and some hot peanut oil.

 

[SparticleBrane]

Thanks, Drudge Report.

 

[ucrtwf]

I'm totally with you guys on the "provoking of wildlife point", stupid to say the least. I heard second hand that the triggerfish is could be dangerous "poisonus" if bitten. Anyone else hear this? 'looks kind of like a parot fish if you ask me.
Tim

 

[Empty V]

Triggers can be really aggressive. I used to have 2 fairly large ones, a humuhumu(Humuhumunukunuku Apua'a) and a Queen Trigger, each about 7 inches. When I would feed them live food they would both circle around it and then dart at the feeder fish from opposing side. Somehow they would both hit the feeder fish at the same exact time and all you would see is an explosion of scales in the water. Pretty amazing. Yes it's cruel, having the fish not feeding them, but I'd rather have someone as responsible and conscientious as myself take the fish rather than have them go to a poorly kept tank and die.

BTW pretty much all fish and eels have a slime coat and if it is tampered with their life expectancy drops massively. From what I understand the slime coat protects the animal from parasites and disease. Never manhandle anything in the water, it's just wrong.

Billy

 

[gonetobaja]

:shakehead

I saw this video and all I could come up with is...

http://vidmax.com/index.php/videos/view/996

When will people start treating strong powerfull ocean predators with respect by at least protecting themselvs if they are going to try and interact with them ie "feed the fish"

Is it just me or does this guy have it comming? Has anyone else seen this?

GTB

 

[ShallowDiverDave]

Yeah, this video was previously posted on SB. After great deliberation we came to a consensus on what we thought, he's a flippen' moron.