WetBoy101
Contributor
Could someone post a picture or a video of a Titan Triggerfish? Please and Thank you!!
Are triggerfish this aggressive?
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Depending on species and season triggerfish can be really aggressive.
I got amusingly mauled by a tiny picasso triggerfish whilst snorkel guiding once when i swam over a nest.
More seriously ive seen Titans attack even with no nest (or even sea bed) anywhere near and they do some damage. Titans probably scare me more than anything else in the sea!
Last encounter i had i was chased from 12m down to 25m hitting the damn thing with my SLR housing and trying to keep that between me and the teeth. This was on a wall dropping to 800m+ so no nest issues there. After it got bored of me it chased a buddy from 16m to the surface and into the blue and still biting his legs when he was surfaced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titan_Triggerfish.jpg
There is one particular fish on a reef i work on that's agressive towards me every single dive i see it and 12 months of the year.
I got amusingly mauled by a tiny picasso triggerfish whilst snorkel guiding once when i swam over a nest.
More seriously ive seen Titans attack even with no nest (or even sea bed) anywhere near and they do some damage. Titans probably scare me more than anything else in the sea!
Last encounter i had i was chased from 12m down to 25m hitting the damn thing with my SLR housing and trying to keep that between me and the teeth. This was on a wall dropping to 800m+ so no nest issues there. After it got bored of me it chased a buddy from 16m to the surface and into the blue and still biting his legs when he was surfaced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titan_Triggerfish.jpg
There is one particular fish on a reef i work on that's agressive towards me every single dive i see it and 12 months of the year.
under water
Contributor
Titan Triggerfish - Sipidan - not the best picture.
2 Big 2 Fail
Contributor
It's interesting. It looks to me like the inverted cone defensive zone thing, when it's referenced, usually refers back to a 1990 article in the Journal of Wilderness Medicine. After looking at a lot of videos of attacking triggerfish, it looks like if the cone thing is correct, it's a real wide cone and not like you're going to swim a few feet and be out of the zone. It's sure not like it's a narrow water column. I begin to doubt there's anything more to the cone idea beyond the fish wanting to stay within direct sight of the nest.
DevonDiver
N/A
Note: The diver in the following video ascends and the Trigger follows him up. He also kicks his fins violently, which goads the Trigger into attacking more violently...
This second clip shows a diver who does not leave the Triggers' territory. He lashes at the Trigger with his fins, again causing a more aggressive response from the fish...
This second clip shows a diver who does not leave the Triggers' territory. He lashes at the Trigger with his fins, again causing a more aggressive response from the fish...
Virginia Aquarium has Triggers in two tanks. Divers have been bitten by them in both tanks.
The Vampire Triggers are even scarier because they have red fangs!
The only critter even more aggressive is the Damsel fish.
The Vampire Triggers are even scarier because they have red fangs!
The only critter even more aggressive is the Damsel fish.
The Titan Triggerfish is notoriously aggressive, but generally only when nesting. If you stray into their territory, they will attack first and ask questions later. Last year one came out of the blue, from behind, and the first thing I know about it was when it head-butted me on my thigh. After that it tried to eat my fins.
They Do. Not. Stop.
As an experiment, I tried to aggressively charge the fish (works with sharks, apparently) and nope, it just came back. Again, and again, and again, and then after I left it's territory, the trigger went down, and it swam away as if nothing had ever happened.
It's happened to me personally a few times, and I've seen it happen a bunch of times to other divers. The trick is to get away, and preferably to a depth below the nest, if that is possible.
Various publications will tell you that the Titan defends a "cone shaped area" above the nest. Forgive the pun but who the smeg taught Triggerfish trigonometry!?
There was one poor fish nesting at Shark and Yolanda (Sharm El Sheikh, Red Sea) two years ago and with probably 200 divers per hour swimming into its territory, it went ballistic. It would attack one diver, move onto the next, then another, and did not stop. We never figured out where the nest actually was, and there was no sign of its mate in the vicinity. They can inflict a nasty wound if they bite, but for the most part they don't, and this was, for a while, hilariously funny to watch...
... and then, I felt sorry for the poor wee thing, and didn't want to watch any more :depressed:
Also yesterday, a clownfish about the size of a packet of cigarettes made a valiant attempt to eat me... what it is about these things that have got far bigger cohonjes than your average great white shark I will never know.
"I am a tirggerfish, and I am an anarchist, don't know what I want but I know how to get it, I'm gonna destroy ALL YOUR FINS!!"
- I am a Triggerfish, Deco Boys, Sharm.
C.
They Do. Not. Stop.
As an experiment, I tried to aggressively charge the fish (works with sharks, apparently) and nope, it just came back. Again, and again, and again, and then after I left it's territory, the trigger went down, and it swam away as if nothing had ever happened.
It's happened to me personally a few times, and I've seen it happen a bunch of times to other divers. The trick is to get away, and preferably to a depth below the nest, if that is possible.
Various publications will tell you that the Titan defends a "cone shaped area" above the nest. Forgive the pun but who the smeg taught Triggerfish trigonometry!?
There was one poor fish nesting at Shark and Yolanda (Sharm El Sheikh, Red Sea) two years ago and with probably 200 divers per hour swimming into its territory, it went ballistic. It would attack one diver, move onto the next, then another, and did not stop. We never figured out where the nest actually was, and there was no sign of its mate in the vicinity. They can inflict a nasty wound if they bite, but for the most part they don't, and this was, for a while, hilariously funny to watch...
... and then, I felt sorry for the poor wee thing, and didn't want to watch any more :depressed:
Also yesterday, a clownfish about the size of a packet of cigarettes made a valiant attempt to eat me... what it is about these things that have got far bigger cohonjes than your average great white shark I will never know.
"I am a tirggerfish, and I am an anarchist, don't know what I want but I know how to get it, I'm gonna destroy ALL YOUR FINS!!"
- I am a Triggerfish, Deco Boys, Sharm.
C.
Kilili
Contributor
Titan triggers, when nesting, can be downright dangerous. Once they start after you, they are ready to track you to the ends of the earth, cone or no cone. In Indonesia, I had one after me, with the intent of castration [females in general can be nasty]. Got my upper thigh, quite close to target. Those big teeth hurt, and a few mil of neoprene doesn't help much, though probably prevented her from removing a chunk of flesh.
On the same dive, a couple of other divers were fending on off with a dive fin.
This was my first introduction to Titan triggers, and the dive guides said "oh, yes, they do that".
Give me sharks to deal with any day.
On the same dive, a couple of other divers were fending on off with a dive fin.
This was my first introduction to Titan triggers, and the dive guides said "oh, yes, they do that".
Give me sharks to deal with any day.
Titan triggers that are standing watch over a nest can often be identified by their nose-down posture. One or a pair of them may be 3-10' above the nest, on opposite sides of "the cone," pointed down toward the nest. If you watch for this posture when you see them, you can avoid the confrontation ... sometimes.
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