Are triggerfish this aggressive?

[Sas]

I was surprised to find out how aggressive clownfish can be ... :shocked2: ... now whenever I watch Finding Nemo, I cheer for the barracuda ...

I know! They're such nasty buggers. I was so excited to find them for the first time as Finding Nemo is one of my favourite movies and they kept trying to eat my fingers. D:

 

[Jun Lao]

I've got bitten twice (have a 3 inch scar on right leg, my fin had a chew mark 3 yrs back) , attacked 7 times, (latest in Moalboal just Dec- a huge 3 foot monster went straight at me seen by everyone, sadly no one had video on- stay wary while at plane wreck dive prior sit)

And yes, I fear Triggerfish more than Sharks.

they should make signs- nest here stay back-

heres a vid on You tube on Triggerfish defending its lair, this was small
[youtubehq]5GSyt-iTPFM[/youtubehq]

 

[Dr Neil]

On of the VA Aquarium's Vampire Triggers got me on the ear this past weekend. Not only did he bite, he tugged on it! He ambushed me while two of the Damsel fish were thumping at me as I was scrubbing. It was like being tag teamed!

 

[Hokie Diver1]

Dr Neil....
You can dive the VA Aquarium?? I know several people that go to the Atlanta Aquarium, but never heard of diving in the VA Aquarium. I will be going to VA Beach in a few months and may have to check it out. Is it worth while? Thanks for the info.

 

[fjpatrum]

Dr Neil....
You can dive the VA Aquarium?? I know several people that go to the Atlanta Aquarium, but never heard of diving in the VA Aquarium. I will be going to VA Beach in a few months and may have to check it out. Is it worth while? Thanks for the info.

I wouldn't get your hopes up. They don't let tourists dive the aquarium, as I understand it. The people who dive there are volunteers who do cleaning work on the aquarium and feeding, I think. You have to volunteer for a minimum number of hours per month and you have to commit to a year at a time, I believe. The application (they get lots of volunteers and select their team every year) went out late last spring... in fact it should be time for a new round of selections pretty soon, I think.

 

[Drewski]

I'm amazed by the concern caused by a 12 to 16 inch misunderstood fish in this thread. I guess I'm one of those "over-zealous videographers" that "provokes" them, LOL.

In the Mid-Atlantic, I've learned to be kind, gentle and SLOW to enjoy good dives with Triggers. When you do that, they usually reciprocate:

[vimeo]3183421[/vimeo]

 

[String]

In the Mid-Atlantic, I've learned to be kind, gentle and SLOW to enjoy good dives with Triggers. When you do that, they usually reciprocate:

Not always they don't. Different species, different regions, different seasons.

You can be as calm and slow as you want with some titans - all that'll do is enable them to hurt you easier.

 

[Drewski]

Different species, different regions, different seasons. You can be as calm and slow as you want with some titans - all that'll do is enable them to hurt you easier.

I've watched the videos. Respectfully, the divers don't understand fish behavior. Not to say, they won't come at you, but they should have handled it differently.

 

[divrdrew]

I have never had trouble with them in the wild, but have had encounters when working in both the FL Aquarium here in Tampa, and the Riverbanks Zoo aquarium in Columbia, SC. One of the Titans here in FL used to charge us all the time while cleaning. No apparent reason. In SC, the red-toothed variety nip at your feet and never really got through the Neoprene, but felt kind of funny. They were the worst. The Femile in FL AQ was the worst of the two there. That said, I've been diving in places like Fiji and the Red Sea with schools of thousands of triggerfish with absolutely no aggressive behavior at all.

 

[SDiverJim]

We were diving in Koh Tao a few years back. It was the beginning of January. The DM mentioned about trigger fish and how it was important to stand your ground and not to swim up. He said during mating/nesting season that they generally wont take tourists out because they (the fish ;-)) become too aggressive. 10 minutes into the dive he puts out his hand to tell us to stop and a trigger fish comes charging at him, stops turns away and repeats. It slowly swam away and we continued on.