Bad Day for a Sharp Nosed Puffer Fish

[Doc]

A very bad day....

CRARacer found this when we had about 75psi in our tanks.

He noticed that the epidermis appeared to be the bubble, complete with the Puffer's guts inside. (No, they do not really puff up, contrary to their name) At the lower right side, the gills and head protruded out the end of the bubble, and it was firmly tethered to the sea floor by some methodology. In touching the Puffer's tail, CRARacer noted that he still had a bit of life left in him- not much... but it was not coming loose.

Did some under-the-rock dweller latch on to him, inject him with some kind of toxin... and/or what?

New one on us.

 

[craracer]

Strangest thing I've seen to date.

At the time, I didn't even realize that it was a fish. The bulb caught my attention because it was something I hadn't seen before, and looked out of place. I saw what looked like a tail attached to it, which completely perplexed me. So, naturally I gave it a little poke with a finger. To my surprise, the tail started wiggling back and forth a few times.

I then gave it a gentle tug, but it's head was firmly inserted into a hole, either stuck or held in place by something.

All I could think was "Doc, you've got to see this!".

 

[RTBDiver]

A little search on google seems to suggest they will actually puff up so if something did have a hold of it , that would explain it, very cool pic nonetheless

 

[jar546]

That is interesting.

What was the purpose of sharing with us that you had 75psi in your tank?

 

[Byte Me]

That is interesting.

What was the purpose of sharing with us that you had 75psi in your tank?

Guessing it was a reminder to those of us who have been to CCV that when you're on your way back in following the chain to go as slow as you can, and then slow that down by 1/2. You're in about 5-10' of water so that last couple hundred PSI can last a LONG time and the area is teaming with life.

If you take the time to look for it.

 

[Doc]

75 psi? That and the fact that we had very little time to tarry and observe.

 

[rob@diveinutila.com]

I've seen the sharp nose puffer three times fully "inflated" engaged in a battle not to be swallowed by a peacock flounder who had managed to fit the puffer into it's mouth to about half way. Once seen back to front (i.e. tail first in the mouth of the flounder) and other times head first. All 3 of these battles went on so long I had to leave without seeing the result...

 

[craracer]

I didn't record what I had left in my tank, but it was about a 88 minute dive (my computers shut off if too shallow).

As said, the area from the safety stop chain to the beach is pretty shallow, and it's teaming with life. Towards the end of the dive, you're basically using your hands to pull yourself along. Your tank and BC breach the water. In essence, you can't go too slow.

 

[RTBDiver]

What was the purpose of sharing with us that you had 75psi in your tank?

Some dives you can bleed almost every last drop from a tank and still be very safe, I often stay offshore my place after a dive until i feel a little resistance breathing from the reg but heck, That is AFTER I have done all deco needed along with probably 20 minutes of "safety stop" and i am in 5-10 feet of water

 

[Doc]

It's not running out of air that's the issue...

.... it's the running out of water. (getting too shallow!)