Sharks/Fish with teeth: Are they actually a threat?

[Simon-]

Been around greys, white tips, black tips, leopards and nurse sharks. Never felt threatened.

3 weeks ago surrounded by a circling school of great baraccuda, didn't feel threatened, but did feel sure they were saying amongst themselves "do you reckon we can take them" as they looked at us.

I echo what GrimSleeper said earlier in this thread. If Clownfish were bigger, we would never dive near a reef. Ballsy little sods

 

[offthewall1]

After diving for 15 years across the globe and with much of my time underwater in the Atlantic, I was convinced that diving with marine life presented no danger - unless the animal was provoked in some way.

I recently changed that opinion after a very personal run in with a Grey Reef shark in the Bahamas. For what seemed like an eternity, but in reality lasted all of 10 or 15 seconds, this shark tried to bite me. As my heart raced and I fended it off not once, not twice but three times... I was brought back out of my 15 year stupor with a dose of reality.

I had never had any significant encounters before that... but I was once "attacked" by a Barracuda according to my wife and I've also had a pesky Remora attach itself to me (I admit I let that one happen.)

The Barracuda story goes like this... I was doing a safety stop in NC with Barracuda all around. I suddenly felt - what felt like a "punch" in the back. It was a pretty hard thud. I looked around expecting to find one of my fellow divers messing with me but no one was there. The closest was my wife who was about 10 feet below me on the line. She was pointing up and at something behind me. I spun around and saw a rather large Barracuda half between my legs and half behind me. When I boarded the boat I asked my wife what happened and she said the Barracuda had "rammed" me in the back. My guess is that it saw something shiny such as my Scubapro clamp band... and that the light had flickered on it just the right way to grab it's attention.

Don't let the Hollywood scare stories worry you, but definately be aware of your surroundings at all times and remember you are surrounded by wild animals. That means anything is possible at anytime.

 

[flots am]

Something that occurred to me not too long ago, was the idea of those, rather large, fish with lots of teeth, otherwise known as sharks, barracuda, as well as bluefish! I realise if a Goldfish was so inclined, it could probably injure you, but in reality what is the danger of said fish? I am referring to the Northern Atlantic specifically, home to everything from Great Whites to barracuda, to the infamous "marine piranha"...

I realise that my concerns are probably simply the result of Hollywood and scare-stories, but my idea of fun is not becoming something's dinner...

Cheers

You're not on anybody's menu. If you don't have, look or act like food, chances are that you'll never get close enough to a shark to even be able to tell what kind it is. All you'll see is a find disappearing in the distance.

The only exception I'm aware of is if you're carrying shark-snacks on a stick (spear fishing), or you hang around where sharks are, or have been fed. In that case, they may associate people with food.

That said, a SCUBA diver being attacked by a shark, while underwater is extremely rare, and as a new diver, the chances of it happening to you is probably on the same level as having the Enterprise stop by and beam you up to have lunch with Captain Kirk.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Some fish are territorial, so if you get too near their nest or eggs or whatever, they may chase you, but they're unlikely to do any damage. Some fish will also follow you because they think you're a big fish and they're waiting to eat your scraps.

flots.

 

[Mantra]

I'm quite a new diver. We are low on dives, but have not made a single one here (south east Queensland, Australia) where there were not sharks present. I imagine this is very species dependent too, right? Every dive we have seen wobbegong (carpet) sharks, have had leopard sharks close, and I am really looking forward to diving with grey nurse sharks next weekend. These are all safe animals so long as you're not poking and prodding, AFAIK. So quite location specific in that respect also, I reckon.

River fish, now, there are some scary buggers. Candiru anyone?

 

[TMHeimer]

offthewall1 makes my point. Despite tiny %s of people being attacked it can happen, and I think many (including myself) would be somewhat terrified. I am not going to depend on the fact that I (probably) don't look or act like food to a particular shark--perhaps one who hasn't recently had a good meal.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

offthewall1 makes my point. Despite tiny %s of people being attacked it can happen, and I think many (including myself) would be somewhat terrified. I am not going to depend on the fact that I (probably) don't look or act like food to a particular shark--perhaps one who hasn't recently had a good meal.

Every time you are in the presence of a fellow human you are at risk, to some degree, of them killing and eating you. Your chances of being KILLED AND EATEN BY A FELLOW HUMAN are significantly higher - near as I can tell something like ten times higher at a minimum - than being killed by a shark based on comparable time periods (2000-2010).

Being afraid of being attacked or killed by sharks while scuba diving may FEEL reasonable but it's an unfounded emotional response.

In contrast being afraid of humans starts to sound downright practical. The longer you stay in the water in the presence of sharks, who will pretty much never actually eat you, and not around humans, who inarguably do, the safer you are.

 

[TMHeimer]

Every time you are in the presence of a fellow human you are at risk, to some degree, of them killing and eating you. Your chances of being KILLED AND EATEN BY A FELLOW HUMAN are significantly higher - near as I can tell something like ten times higher at a minimum - than being killed by a shark based on comparable time periods (2000-2010).

Being afraid of being attacked or killed by sharks while scuba diving may FEEL reasonable but it's an unfounded emotional response.

In contrast being afraid of humans starts to sound downright practical. The longer you stay in the water in the presence of sharks, who will pretty much never actually eat you, and not around humans, who inarguably do, the safer you are.

Again, talking %s doesn't do anything for me. I don't purposely go where I am told there are a lot of sharks (not paranoid, just figure why go there?). As well, being born and raised a mile from NYC, I don't purposely hang out in the South Bronx. Back to the OP's question--are big animals with teeth a threat? Despite the very low %s, they can be. A common N. Atlantic flounder is not.

 

[Splitlip]

I find the best shark deterent to be a camera.

 

[XS-NRG]

I was enjoying a late night snack until I just saw the image of the guy's leg dripping off in chunks. Certainly puts things in perspective and I've dove with sharks before too. YIKES!!!

 

[Tim R Alcoser JR]

From my experiences with sharks, I feel that sharks depend on your body language to decide whether you are predator or prey. When you swim away from a shark, it is almost as if he thinks, "Well, he's running from me. Evidently he must know that he tastes good to me. Better check that out." But, any time I have seen a Sand Tiger, Reef Shark, or even bull shark, simply swimming as fast as possible directly towards them, causes them to turn 180 and run away from you.

I have had over 30 encounters with sharks, at least 20 of those involved a bloody stringer of grouper and snapper attached to me. As long as I see them coming, I'm not too worried. It's the ones I don't see that make me nervous. As long as I can see him and act like a predator to him, he'll swim off before I am within 25ft.

I think this is really sound advice actually. Correct me if i'm wrong. The other day, I was watching some dives on youtube with great whites in open water and one large female was slowly approaching a diver who was still and had his back turned to it not noticing it (because his eyes were glued to the other one). Another Diver immediately swam over, waving his fists and spear gun at the large animal and it took off immediately.

[video=youtube;FLPNM_zanm0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLPNM_zanm0[/video]