Canadian struck by barracuda in Jamaica

[DandyDon]

I guess it depends on the water where the cuda is taken. Snapper and lionfish can be dangerous in some areas, but they're popular food. The cuda is the most infamous for the toxin tho.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Rjk75 if you live in my city I can show you the fin. Think it is still around here somewhere.

I have a diving acquaintance who suffered/suffers from ciguaterra from eating barracuda on Little Corn, Nicaragua. Pretty much ruined his life. I'll not be knowingly eating any. A Belizean friend of mine had a cookout at my place. All my guests loved it and they were just fine. I went with the "better safe than sorry" route.

I'm already doing enough damage without.

 

[DiverAmy]

'Cuda was on the menu of a fine dining establishment in Bonaire, where I ate a few months ago.

 

[agilis]

I lived in the Negril area for almost a year, a long time ago, before the superclubs (excepting one at Rutland point) and all the construction killed off the inshore reefs that began only a few feet from shore in some places along the 7 mile beach. I've seen very big Barracudas there, have been frightened by a few aggressive ones, and was almost attacked by one a few miles north of Negril, at Orange Bay.

This very large monster lived in a trench that began at the mouth of that tiny bay, and would slowly drift up toward you until he was almost eyeball to eyeball, close enough to touch. On one occasion this obviously hostile fish actually seized my fin as I was looking under a ledge in his trench and left some deep tooth marks in the rubber.

It's been my experience, at least in the Caribbean, that big barracuda are more dangerous than sharks. This was also the opinion of the Negril based fisherman I knew in those days.

 

[Hank49]

Hank is nuts in general ;-)

Eating Barracuda - The Hull Truth - Boating and Fishing Forum

LetterBoy, I agree with you You might also be pleased to know that this barracuda was shot in the same cut you dived in with Jake and Jorge.

I've only heard of one case of ciguatera in the 13 years I've been in Belize. That was way south near Sapadillo Caye. If the dinoflaggelate is present, pretty much all the big predators are going to be dangerous. We eat 40 plus lb cuberas, same size black grouper, 30 lb cobia, 15 lb jacks...

I won't eat them from anywhere. But as I said, Belize has a very good track record for "cig".

 

[Wingy]

I also have a very very healthy respect for solitary great bara's which is why I wear one glove (i have a ring that wont come off my finger). I cut my hand in PNG and had a great big bara come up from the deep and flare his jaws out in my face before disappearing off over my shoulder......warning heeded.

 

[Hank49]

I also have a very very healthy respect for solitary great bara's which is why I wear one glove (i have a ring that wont come off my finger). I cut my hand in PNG and had a great big bara come up from the deep and flare his jaws out in my face before disappearing off over my shoulder......warning heeded.

They definitely are a force to be reckoned with. 50 mph bursts of speed. They cut 2-3 lb snappers or grunts clean in half when you have one on hook and line,
I've had small ones come streaking past in the shallow murky waters right off our beach. I was taking a small snapper off my spear and one came by snapping his jaws about a foot from my hand. If one caught your wrist it could turn very serious very fast.
I've seen a couple that were laying still...probably had just eaten. They get those pronounced colors when they're sitting with a full belly. I didn't shoot though because one must have been 40 lbs. I thought, "what if I don't stone it". Talk about a tiger by the tail.....haha. sneaky bastards.....

 

[chillyinCanada]

Had another Belizean DM friend (he's no longer on the island) who appeared to be good friends with dark 3 footer. Andy would amuse his divers by pretending to be . . .um, uh, doing the punta with the cuda, cuda face to Andy crotch . . . For real, mere inches away! Cuda didn't look hungry, angry or annoyed. Wasn't much of a dancer either.

 

[Hank49]

And, barracuda is the only fish I've ever seen fart. It was my first dive in San Pedro back in 99. I was doing a safety stop and this 15 lber or so was just hanging in the water....and bubbles came out of his anus. And I swear he had this "aaahhhhhhh" look in his face.
I told my daughter who is Jack Randall's granddaughter. She told him and he burst out laughing. He said the same thing about them passing gas. And he had a picture of it. I have it framed on my wall in my bedroom of this barracuda with bubbles coming out....haha. Classic.

 

[boulderjohn]

Just a note on the comment about DCS at that depth...

A lot of divers are really confused about that. I think we go overboard in instruction on that topic, making them much more afraid than they should be. DCS is a pretty rare occurrence in recreational diving. On the other hand, embolisms are I believe the leading cause of death (next to cardiac events) in diving, and we spend a relatively small percentage of instructional time on that.