'Abnormally friendly’ Critters?

[Brules]

All 15+ hours of video I shot in july have snappers following me and my gopro on a pole like hunting dogs waiting to be fed. Got to be quite annoying. I am all for killing the lion fish, but this "feeding the bears" as Don put it will do nothing but create a bunch of these:

 

[Mossman]

All 15+ hours of video I shot in july have snappers following me and my gopro on a pole like hunting dogs waiting to be fed. Got to be quite annoying. I am all for killing the lion fish, but this "feeding the bears" as Don put it will do nothing but create a bunch of these:

But I loved Yogi Bear as a kid. You mean there's something wrong with him?

 

[Qnape]

Which raises another interesting issue. Lionfish evolved toxic spines to defend them from predators. Apparently, the same wanna-be predators are able to avoid the spines when eating dead lionfish off a DM's spear, but the live lionfish are still armed and dangerous. What happens when (if) a fish does learn to eat a live lionfish from grazing off pieces of dead ones, goes to take a bite of the live one, and gets spined and killed in the process? That can't be good for the eco system and can only lead to very confused fish.

I can only say that I saw several grouper take live uninjured lionfish once they were pushed off the reef by dm's fins. The spines did not seem to cause them a problem. I did observe one grouper spit the lionfish out, re-orient, then swallow it again (and kept it down).

I do share the concern about conditioning eels, sharks etc and even grouper to associate divers with food and handouts, and this is why in many places they do not cull and feed the lionfish to their neighbors, at least when clients are around (only on culling dives). The DM's mentioned that pushing the lionfish away from the reef with fins (uninjured) seems to only attract the grouper; the sharks and eels don't come in for them. This is why they feel comfortable doing this when their clients are there.

Even grouper can become agressive if sufficiently habituated to divers / handouts; so even this less invasive practice may not be ultimately wise. My daughter had a run-in just a few years ago with an overly friendly grouper that could have been the result of this - see http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/near-misses-lessons-learned/349261-grouper-attack.html

 

[djanni]

Amazing video. I wish I could been there to experience that. I'll think about it every time we dive that site.

I won't condone or endorse the practice but it does make for some interesting encounters. It looks like that on certain dive sites nurse sharks are getting used to divers who spear lionfish as previously mentioned. My only concern is the fact that the behavior of these animals may get changed so that they expect handouts from divers. Perhaps this only occurs when they smell or see lionfish? I dont know enough to speculate.

One thing is for sure, it can already been seen with some mutton snappers who will already stay with groups for their entire dive looking for a free meal.

I know some people that have already had some scares with overly friendly morays that are looking for handouts.

Here's a quick video I took from last week with an overly friendly nurse shark. I have several other videos like this.

Friendly Nurse Shark encounter - YouTube

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

Well don't know if it's the same nurse shark or not, but a large one about 6-7' nibbled quite hard on my ring finger at Delilah. Not too far from Palancar and I was also told that it grabbed my friend (weeks later) by the calf of his leg.

In my case it was totally my fault. I was diving without my camera and went in under a ledge to lay close to the nurse shark for a "photo-op". Two photographers came in to take photos, one from each side. The shark felt trapped and then turned to get out, and as I turned to kick out to get out of his way I moved my hand to push out and it bit me! HARD. Let me tell you, even though they are bottom feeders, they are strong enough to crack open a conch shell. I am very lucky I still have my finger. Made for an interesting safety stop and a nice ragged scar on my finger. The nickname..."shark-bait" is not funny, however. I still wonder if it thought I was reaching out with something to eat, has I had my muck stick in my hand.

Before: He looks grumpy.




After! :shocked2:

 

[kirasir]

Here's a quick video I took from last week with an overly friendly nurse shark. I have several other videos like this.

Friendly Nurse Shark encounter - YouTube

Cool video. LOL, is that shears falling down at 0:54?

 

[citycountryguy]

Appears to be. And I know that diver...wonder if she got them back...

 

[Pelagicsal]

Dang! So that's when they left me. At least I know where to look now. Had loaned them to trim some webbing on the boat and apparently didn't secure them well enough before entry.
Good eye, kirasir!