Barracudas

[triciask]

Well all I can say to that is thank goodness fish pass gas too!! Heh!

I think I would still be a little fearsome of them. When in doubt......

Thanks for the info.
Tyme

I rarely see schools of great barracuda in Belize. One time I saw about 12, 3-4 footers. In the Philippines and Malaysia there are schooling chevron barracuda but they're harmless. You can swim right into them.
Great barracudas are curious and will sneak up behind you to have a look. If you turn towards them, they move off. But they'll sneak up again if you turn away. After a few passes they lose interest and swim off. They look pretty fearsome though with all those teeth. And they are the only fish...well, I've seen a lot of bubbles around schools of tarpon too...that I've seen pass gas. I actually have a picture of one with bibbles coming out of his anus and I've seen two others do it.

 

[triciask]

Ok so really there are more positives than negitives. This is good to know.

I believe in natural selection, therefore I would never dangle fish infront of them littleless my teeth. YIKES!! No natural selection for me

What a great picture, it does look like a hook. Thanks for sharing it with me!
So no jewerly! I got it!

Thanks for the info

They aren't dangerous to dive with. in fact they leave you alone.
But I wouldn't stick bait fish in my teeth for them to eat out
like some of the dive guides in the keys do.

They are curious and will swim up to you though.









Do they like Shiny thing? heck yes.

Check out the mouth of this barracuda on this pic that I took
last week on the Duane. Pay special attention to the shiny
object in his mouth. I think it's a hook, but not really sure.

Click on the below link. To enlarge pic in the next page, click on pic
http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/24762/cat/500/page/1

 

[triciask]

Hi Scuba Dad,

Thanks for sharing the picture. He/she is sporting a nice set of teeth.... UGH!!
It'll certainly be an adventure when I finally get down there and have my first encouter. Can't Wait!! Hmmmm....

I see from your counter that you're heading down to Costa Rica. I'm Costa Rican, and am excited at the posibility of diving there one day soon!

Safe Diving, and thanks for the story... <<mental note...NO silver mask/snorkle..got it>>

Tyme

Normally they do... The one in the attached picture was an overly friendly one on the City of Washington in Key Largo. When I started my dive, he (or she) was in my face. He was so close, I had to cross my eyes to focus on him. But.. when one of my dive buddies was ending his dive, this same baracuda was in his face, too... So.. he made the mistake and said to himself "Show me your stuff, big boy!" Well, about the time he thought that, the baracuda went after the top of his snorkel and pulled his mask off. When we got back to the boat and heard his story... we looked at his Oceanic snorkel with the SILVER top on it... needless to say.. my buddy ripped the silver tape off of his snorkel. We still laugh about that one today....

btw... the I believe that's one of the cudas that Spence Slate used to feed...

Al

 

[mike_s]

Triclask

I think you're over worrying the barracuda thing.

I've seen many, many, many, if not hundreds, of barracudas on dives
and never once have I seen one get aggressive.

Simply put, they won't bother. Now I still don't think you
should wear shiny loose jewelry, but this goes for all fish, not
just barracudas.


The only time I've ever seen a fish act agrressive towards something
that wasn't food/feeding related was last week a brown damsel
tried to grab a 'string' that as hanging off one of my gloves.
I guess for him it was food related as he probl thought it was
a small worm or something.

So anyeay, you don't have anything to worry about with barracudas.

 

[triciask]

Thanks Mike,

It's good to know I can be comfortable around them. Lots of misconceptions about Barracudas I guess. I'm glad to know it's fairly safe to be around them.

Thanks for the good advise,
Tricia

Triclask

I think you're over worrying the barracuda thing.

I've seen many, many, many, if not hundreds, of barracudas on dives
and never once have I seen one get aggressive.

Simply put, they won't bother. Now I still don't think you
should wear shiny loose jewelry, but this goes for all fish, not
just barracudas.


The only time I've ever seen a fish act agrressive towards something
that wasn't food/feeding related was last week a brown damsel
tried to grab a 'string' that as hanging off one of my gloves.
I guess for him it was food related as he probl thought it was
a small worm or something.

So anyeay, you don't have anything to worry about with barracudas.

 

[Bill51]

They aren't dangerous to dive with. in fact they leave you alone.
But I wouldn't stick bait fish in my teeth for them to eat out
like some of the dive guides in the keys do.

Hey, you got something against feeding Psycho?

http://www.florida-adventure.com/magazine/slate_images/slate1.jpg

 

[Scuba_Dad]

I see from your counter that you're heading down to Costa Rica. I'm Costa Rican, and am excited at the posibility of diving there one day soon!

Hi Tyme,
Not Costa Rica... I wish... I went there last year... I'm diving with Pura Vida Divers in West Palm Beach. I wanted to find one of the Pura Vida t-shirts in Costa Rica... I saw a lot of people wearing them, and I wanted one for myself and a couple for my friends at Pura Vida Divers in WPB.... but... I never found the store that was selling them...

Al

 

[The Heat]

I remember snorkelling in the keys (horrible viz at the beach) when I saw my first large cuda. It was about four foot long and pointed right at a large shiny square of a little girl's telatubby-like swimsuit. Yes, they are attracted to shiny things and you'd be amazed how close they can get without you noticing them; one was eyeballing my watch when we were snorkelling at MacArthur Park, close to Jupiter. My buddy saw him, I didn't. The good thing is they are very smart...I just wouldn't press my luck.

Seaworld used to have a dozen big ones in a tank, there pretty impressive close up. Dive the keys much and I'm sure you'll see one.

 

[triciask]

Hi Sheldon,

Yes, that's what I've been reading on the net; that barracudas are highly intelligent. I'll be sure to not wear anything shiney.

At Discovery Cove they have a center tank in the middle of the Artificial reef pool with only Barracuda. Although they were behind a huge glass, they were very intimidating. They were huge, I'd say about 4-5 feet long, very large teeth. What surprised me was how interested they were in the people snorkling, as opposed to just swimming around in their tank. The coupled together and just stayed there motionless watching everyone.

Thanks for the info,

Tyme

I remember snorkelling in the keys (horrible viz at the beach) when I saw my first large cuda. It was about four foot long and pointed right at a large shiny square of a little girl's telatubby-like swimsuit. Yes, they are attracted to shiny things and you'd be amazed how close they can get without you noticing them; one was eyeballing my watch when we were snorkelling at MacArthur Park, close to Jupiter. My buddy saw him, I didn't. The good thing is they are very smart...I just wouldn't press my luck.

Seaworld used to have a dozen big ones in a tank, there pretty impressive close up. Dive the keys much and I'm sure you'll see one.

 

[triciask]

LOL! Ok I'm not touching this post

Hey, you got something against feeding Psycho?

http://www.florida-adventure.com/magazine/slate_images/slate1.jpg