Barracuda Attack

[SeaYoda]

At the end of a dive I saw a cuda under the boat. As I swam to the stern, he followed me swimming sideways and getting closer as we went along. He got close enough that I could almost touch him with my fin by the time I reached the ladder. When I climbed out he disappeared according to my buddy who was still in the water. In the picture of me below, I can see several things he might have been interested in ...

 

[vladimir]

First of all, let's get the size questions out of the way. The world records are 5.5 feet long and 85 lbs. Claims over that need to be looked at a bit askance and chalked up to refraction and adrenalin.

Either that or chalked up to inability to distinguish barracuda from tarpon. Not that there are any 12-14 foot tarpon out there, but you can get closer, at least.

Some posters on Scuba Board fail to list all of their qualifications in their CV's. ie, opinionated.

"Too often ... people enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought"

I'm curious; what in Thal's post do you take issue with?

ScubaMarc, if you keep your picture's width to 600 pixels or so, it will be easier for everybody to view the picture and the rest of the thread.

 

[Mandy3206]

First of all, let's get the size questions out of the way. The world records are 5.5 feet long and 85 lbs. Claims over that need to be looked at a bit askance and chalked up to refraction and adrenalin.

I got this one long time ago, it was a 5 footer since I'm 5'-6" and It wasn't the biggest of the pack, in fact it was the smallest of the pack and the biggest IMO was about 7+ feet long and I have seen lots like this in the Monito Rock area (the rock in the avatar) and at Sail Rock just outside of St Thomas.

Sorry but I have to disagree, I doubt the world record is 5.5ft long

 

[vladimir]

From http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=108:

The great barracuda...Maximum length 2 m; maximum weight: 50 kg

.

The world's record on hook and line is a 1.7 m great barracuda taken in the Bahamas that weighed 46.72 kg.

From Rapala - World Records

Rapala Floater Barracuda, Guinean All-Tackle 101 lb 3 oz 45.9 Olende, Gabon 12/27/2002 Dr. Cyril Fabre

The two meter (6' 7") length is the longest mention I can find.

 

[Thalassamania]

The size I quoted was, if I recall, taken from FISHBASE.

 

[RickI]

Hope you came through OK. I did a write up on a barracuda attack in the Florida Keys a while back. At that time it seemed cuda attacks on divers were far more rare than normal cuda behavior might imply. The article is located at:

Severe Barracuda Attack - FKA Kiteboarding Forums

 

[jsrcrb]

Cuda:

was looking to try and find some force fins for an upcoming return to the Bahamas when I ran across this site and your post so I joined the site in order to respond. I too have been fascinated by barracuda attacks since mine occurred almost 35 years ago.

My family was planning a vacation to the Caicos Islands when I was 16-17 years old. Having enough advanced warning about the trip I got certified which included a check out dive in Lake Michigan in 1973 with about 5 ft of viability and water temp of under 50. We had connections to ScubaPro so I was able to outfit myself for this trip. As it turned out there was no diving on South Cacios at the time but my parents were nice enough to let me fly over to Gran Turk and do a two day dive with Art Pickering who was the dive master. We were somewhat off season so I had Art all to myself. We scheduled 2 dives for each day and my first real diving experience was 100+ viability in paradise. On the last dive of the second day we anchored over a sand valley in about 50 foot of water with 2 coral ridges on either side extending upward about 15 ft. As soon as we entered the water I noticed the 2 barracuda, each approaching about 4 ft in length. They began to follow us, staying back about 25 or 30 feet but shadowing us just the same. After about 10 mins of this I motion to Art and pointed them out and not surprisingly he was very unconcerned. Our dive was mainly in 40-70 ft and like many young divers I burned my tank much more quickly than my instructor. I noticed I was getting low so I signaled Art that I was about done. I decided to hover above the sand bottom right at the anchor and enjoy my last few breaths before surfacing. I was there for a minute or two when I felt a strong hit on my right foot. I turned around and saw the larger of the two barracuda swimming away. I knew I was low on air so I began a reasonably slow ascent toward the boat while performing a pirouette to make sure the fish was not returning for seconds. I got into the boat - since it was just the 2 of us Art was using the smaller whaler boat. I had been using full foot snorkeling flippers as I could not fit the Jet Fins into my bag (and this was before weight limits meant much). I had a pair of tube socks under the flippers. I began to bleed pretty heavily as soon as I got the flipper off. I had a puncture wound in the pad of the foot below my little toe of my right foot. there were 3 smaller cuts on the top of my foot from the upper teeth and there was a 1.25 - 1.5 inch slash cut on the bottom of my foot that was about .5 inch deep.

Art quickly surfaced and asked me what was wrong. I told him I had been bitten and he replied that Barracuda do not bite. My reply was "I guess they do not read the same books we do". Upon seeing the blood and my destroyed flipper we quickly headed back to shore. There was no doctor on the island clinic that day and upon hearing that they had no Novocaine I opted not to let the nurse stitch my foot (big mistake as it took quite a while to heal). Art signed my flipper and dropped my at the airport for the puddle jumping flight back and when I landed I was swarmed be a number of islanders wanting to know what had happened (as many of them dove for lobster and conch and wanted to know what had happened).

I had nothing shinny on, did nothing to interact with the fish (we feed grouper the first day but not on this dive). My flipper was a brighter blue and where the fish struck my foot would have been behind the gills if my flipper had been a fish (my understanding of how a barracuda typically attacks - strike the fish behind the gills; swim away; wait for the fish to die and then come back to feed). It is possible we had anchored over a nesting area; but that is pure speculation.

I have always considered myself pre-disaster-ed (like Robin Williams buying the house in the World According to Garp). I have been diving often with Barracuda, including a 100+ school in Key Largo. I have a health respect but usually not too freaked out. I think the flipper may be packed away in box somewhere (a divorce and several moves tend to displace keepsakes). I know it went to several Show and Tells when my kids were growing up. I have been diving with each of my 3 kids and wish I dove more. No excuses seeing that my parents have a home in the bahamas.

Hope this account helps in your research. My attack was certainly less harrowing or dangerous than yours - thank goodness!

Cheers

John

 

[Cudabait]

Thanks for your informative report....I think there are many barracuda attacks which go unreported world wide. Possibly for a number of reasons......remote locations without good communication and a very real reluctance on the part of dive operations to talk about them. Thanks again for the report.

 

[jsrcrb]

I think you are correct on the under reporting. The resort operator wanted to write an article but changed his mind after thinking about it. I also contacted the dive magazine I subscribed to at the time and they told me that it did not fit their editorial content. I think the lesson of any of the anecdotal stories is that wild animals, including fish can act in unpredictable ways and healthy respect is an important ingredient of that interaction.

John

 

[Puffer Fish]

I've seen one.

Was back in the 70's, diving in the Atlantic in Panana. Was during the dry season..big waves, clear water in the Atlantic then.

Location was an off shore island and the rocks around it.

It was common to see single large barracuda there (perhaps the same one), and they seemed to be very territorial...either following you, or getting in your face with gill flaring.

This one was around 5 ft, and seemed very agitated we were diving there...it followed Phil very closely....the whole dive.

Then, when he found a lobster, and had his arms under a ledge in about 45 ft, it came up behind him...did some strange motions for about 30 seconds (I was about 50 ft away at the time, and when I saw it, headed to them)..and then struck, at the same time Phil was ducting down to see under the ledge... it hit the regulator at full speed, knocking Phil into the ledge, and knocking pieces of it's teeth out.

It is possible it was striking at his regulator, don't know, but it left Phil with some scrapes on his forehead and one dazed barricuda. However, had Phil not ducked and moved forward, he would have been hit in the lower back of the head, and not the valve.

Size... I consider 5 ft the normal "really big" barricuda. Have seen bigger, but nothing over 7 ft. Not that I profess to have seen every one, but given the size distribution I have seen over the years, would expect it to be something around that 7 ft (although the largest I have seen was perhaps 6 - 6.5 ft.