Puffer fish bites off diver's finger

[pufferfish]

Fantastic picture, Eli! Ouch... I can just imagine that's a finger in his mouth.

As for the severed finger.. I have to admit my morbid curiosity was strangely satisfied to see a photo of the injury!

So was mine. Don't mess with family :biggrin:

Pufferfish

 

[bilsant]

I just found this thread.

I found it by googling "pufferfish bite."

I googled "pufferfish bite" because of an encounter about 3 hours ago on the 2nd reef at Lauderdale by the Sea. He was about 18 inches long, and was tangled in some gorgons by the stainless hook in his mouth and about five feet of steel leader that my knife couldn't cut through. I couldn't cut him loose so I grabbed the hook at the corner of his mouth and unhooked him. He immediately reacted to the big black bubbly pufferfish-eating monster (that's me) by grabbing my left thumb and clamping down hard.

I'm waving my hand around trying to shake him off and roaring "woooooooo" through my reg. My dive buddy thinks this is somehow part of my unhooking technique, because all she saw is the puffer going free, me holding my thumb, and then laughing through my reg because what was running through my mind was the eulogy ("He was cut down when so young by a tragic pufferfish attack.") Strangely, Mr. puffer never really blew up, and hauled butt down into the rocks as soon as he let go.

Thankfully I was wearing a 5mil glove which I'm sure saved me some injury. As it was, I still have a bruise under the nail and cuticle, and it hurts a bit to type. I've taken some asprin and wrapped the injured digit around a cold beer or two.

I'd never heard of a pufferfish attack, wondered if anyone else knew they could bite so doggone hard, and then found this thread. As it turns out, I'm apparently darned lucky. It just goes to show that even the cute stuff'll hurt ya down there if you're not careful. I consider the lesson cheap for what it taught me. I'm freshening this thread because it isn't a bad idea to remind folks from time to time that these critters have defenses that evolved over a long time and work very well and respect is very much due them.

 

[c333davis]

I'd never heard of a pufferfish attack, wondered if anyone else knew they could bite so doggone hard

I have a Green Spotted Puffer in a brackish-water tank at home.

My sweetheart Jim refers to him as a gremlin... remember the bad horror/comedy movie from the 80s? The creatures look adorable and then, under certain conditions, they become viscious.

Our GSP is less than 2 inches long, but I've watched him take a piece of shrimp and tear it apart after shaking it around like a dog would shake a chew toy. We puffer owners feed snails-in-shell to our puffs to keep their beaks trimmed... you can hear the crunching through the tank glass as our GSP demolishes the snails.

Another example of how looks can be deceiving!

 

[DennisS]

The diet of the pufferfish includes mostly invertebrates and algae. Large specimens will even crack open and eat clams, mussels, and shellfish with their hard beaks.

If they can crack clams and mussels, a finger is nothing.

 

[mntlblok]

My sweetheart Jim refers to him as a gremlin... remember the bad horror/comedy movie from the 80s?

Bad??!! I can't count the number of times I watched that movie with my daughters - almost as many times as Beetlejuice.

Glad the thread was revived. Both hilarious and informative.

Kevin

 

[farsidefan1]

Finger meets darwin. I'm having trouble feeling much sympathy but I come from the ltftfa school of thought. Some of the letters stand for leave the fish the ... alone.

 

[bilsant]

Farside....you think I shoulda left him hooked and tangled? In view of the results, I have an open mind your answer...

 

[diver 85]

bilsant----here's a link to the video of the pufferfish attack......think you hear the finger crack @ the end, but maybe just the camera being moved around....

YouTube - Diver vs. Fish

 

[vinegarbiscuit]

I'm not surprised at all. Having seen - and heard - a pufferfish grinding an urchin in its mouth, there's no way I'd want my finger anywhere enard these guys' mouths. My fiance also tells a story of a pufferfish shooting out from under a ledge and attacking the divers on his charter. Everyone was minding their own business - my fiance is a gigantic hippy, and doesn't favor touching critters - but maybe they just caught the puffer on a bad day, I don't know. The puffer went straight for the exposed flesh on one of the diver's legs, between the wetsuit and bootie. My fiance herded everyone back to the boat, still being harassed by the puffer, who kept swooping toward the divers. The divers had to make their way from the tagline to the boat's ladder while keeping their hands out of the water, since the puffer wouldn't quit. They must have looked like a screwed-up version of the Village People, as the captain and my SO were calling, "OK, forward!" (Divers instinctively put hands in water to pull themselves along the tagline). "No, no, forward swim with your hands in the air! I want to see hands!" Even the captain's efforts to chivvy the puffer away from the divers with a spare freediving fin didn't work...this was one determined puffer. Fortunately, everyone got on board without incident, with the diver - a 12-year old kid - now the proud bearer of a weird puffer beak-mark on his calf . I've always followed a 'don't touch' policy around underwater critters, but after hearing my fiance and the boat captain relate the Incident of The Cantankerous Puffer, I give puffers a very wide berth!

 

[farsidefan1]

Actually I think you acted rather courageously. My comments were directed at the original poster that lost a digit while hassling the puffer. I commend someone who was involved in a "rescue mission".

Farside....you think I shoulda left him hooked and tangled? In view of the results, I have an open mind your answer...