Things That Almost Bit You

[fjpatrum]

... Lastly just barely avoided getting hit bit a whale shark, it was coming straight at me while feeding, didnt notice it right away and had to roll quick quickly to avoid it smashing into me, lol.

How in the world do you "not notice" a whale shark?!!!

Well the 'Diving Bug' bite me early in life. Does that count?

Damnit, you took my joke. I was going to say it bit me but I didn't get too bad of an infection yet (only 30 dives in 3 years...)

 

[afyregirl]

Had an interesting experience on one of my last dive and thought this might make an interesting thread.. Share your close encounters of something under water almost (or successfully) biting/attacking you!

Here's mine:
I saw something on a night dive and didn't know what it was. Like a little tube with rings around it and some fronds on top like feelers or anemone. So i wasn't sure if it was some kind of worm thing or just an anemone on a piece of trash (like a bottle cap or piece of pipe) So I got closer with my flashlight.. and closer.. finally just touched the edge of it with my flashlight and the thing bit my flashlight so hard and fast that it yanked it in my hand then disappeared. Scared me death! I yelled in my reg (thankfully no one was near to hear me LOL) Looked it up and realized it was a Bobbit worm!

Bobbit worm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank god I didn't use my finger!!

OMG!! Plus they can cause permanent numbness??? Eeks!

---------- Post added April 4th, 2013 at 01:59 PM ----------

I've now been bitten 3 times by moray eels. 2 of them were warranted - I was spearfishing (freediving) and moray's are very scent oriented. One bite ruined my gloves and nicked the skin, the other shredded my hand/finger and I now have a lovely small scar after the good docs stitched it back together. No permanent damage.

The third time I was attacked in about 90' of water. I was diving a wall on scuba and it's totally different gear from my freedive/spearfishing set-up so there was no scent of anything to do with fish on me. I wasn't even close to the reef - in fact the moray swam past 2 other divers to head straight for me and I was hanging out in blue water. I shoved my fin at it at the last minute and it bit twice, shredding my fin. Yes, you can hear screaming through a reg...

I guess since I have 25 years spearfishing/scuba diving, that's not too bad. . .

 

[Bigd2722]

had a triggerfish try to bite my mask when I was concentrating on a lobster in a hole.

 

[sharknut]

How in the world do you "not notice" a whale shark?!!!


lmao, well i focused on filming another shark in front of me (there was at least 10-15 sharks) and got into the "zone" and completely ignored everything around me (stupid I know) and noticed it last minute in my peripheral.

 

[rhwestfall]

I got a leach on me once.....






























My wife's first night dive was in Bonaire off Buddy's Reef. Those of you a little longer in the tooth may remember the resident tarpon that liked to shoot by you from behidg, bumping you as it passed.....

 

[AlanDeep]

Those Bobbit Worms, I hope we never encounter a 10 footer! They strike so fast the prey is sliced in two, and their spines cause permanent numbness!!!!

Ol' Babe the Moray in Pompano swims around and through my arms looking for my camera then kisses the faceplate. She then poses when I put the camera up. Every time I try to shoot the Stingray she swims in front of the camera, attention ho'!

 

[ccxx]

I got bit on the hand by an eel in Dominica a few years back....I reached around a sponge to push a banded coral shrimp
closer to the macro lens of my camera and wham! a pair of vice grips clamped down on my hand...at least that's what it felt like.
I instinctively yanked my hand back, which was a mistake, it's teeth scrapped along my thumb and little finger.
The fresh water barrel on the boat was handy to soak my hand in to get the salt off (no more fresh water drinks out of that one.....)
and fortunately one of my group was a veterinarian and she applied dog salve to my wounds and I was fine except for the scars.
Lesson....If you can't see your hand, don't put it there!

 

[diveDsea]

I am glad to have read about the bobbit worm, I'll never be so close to the ground again as I used to swim till now!!!
once in Papua New Guinea and once in Indonesia, I was attacked by trigger fish (one, two?) when I was in their territory. frightened me like hell, the fish kept biting at my hoses, and I finned like crazy to leave the area. once out of the invisible circle, all was quiet except my heart was pounding. one of my dive friends had his hose bitten through, in Egypt...

 

[drinksfromtap]

On my first open water dive, I ended up in a cloud of hand-sized white fish just off the boat that started nipping at my hair :shocked2:

 

[STX MSDT]

I've been nipped and bitten by lots of things, but the strangest might have to be the time I was bitten by a sea urchin.
I was showing some DSDs around and pulled a West Indian Sea Egg off of a rock and had it on the palm of my hand to show them how the urchins use their suction-cupped legs to attach and move around. I guess I kept it there too long because I felt a terrible pinch right in the center of my palm. I peeled the urchin back and saw that it had extended its mouth parts down and bitten me!