Eel Attack in Cozumel (The Feeding of Lionfish)

[DandyDon]

Wow this thread it still rolling...!

Thanks Brat. I've referenced the same "Rules have changed" article myself but wondered where you got move than half? Yeah, the toxin varies a lot with areas I think, and the originating bacteria. From reading the symptoms tho, I'd rather be bent...!

Hehe if I have to swim 20 ft from coral, I need a different camera than the new one I got last month.

Good questios Ann.

 

[joyceschur]

AMERMAID – I never mentioned the name of the dive site. It was, in fact, Villa Blanca. I’m curious how you knew this?

MERXLIN- One of the few to recognize why gear control is problematic if you’ve got one arm elevated and the other applying direct pressure.

DUMPSTER DIVER – You get a concession from me regarding the learning curve; but on an entirely different matter. I forgot about red. TERRYLOWE described it exactly.

The attack was rapid, stunning, intensely painful, and took a moment to process. I saw a bit of darkish green substance and my first thoughts were “ink” (?), “venom” (?), “what’s going on?” As the dark cloud began pouring out of my wrist I realized it was blood and ended the dive as described.

PS – “Tenacity” was a gracious compliment and I’m smiling about it. I think you’ll smile too when you hear what my dive buddy said afterward (“I’ve never seen an eel attack a barracuda before&#8221.

KARIBELLE – Once again, your accuracy is appreciated. My expectations of a DM have been repeatedly misstated and convoluted throughout this thread. We can all agree DMs are not babysitters, but I take issue with a DM who had so extremely diverted his attention from a group of paying customers in order to engage in lionfish elimination and ended up injuring himself in the process.

Control of the lionfish population has become such an overwhelming concern that it’s now unquestionably acceptable for DMs to engage in lionfish elimination during the course of guided dives. I think it’s time to question this practice.

ANNIEOLS – Answers to your questions:
Was this the first dive with this DM? No
Did the DM ask permission to spear or mention it in a briefing? No
If not the first dive, did you have a problem in previous dives with the eliminating? In previous dives there hadn’t been such an extensive amount of time spent on elimination. It was the extenuating circumstances of this particular dive that brought the problem into focus.
Did you ask the DM not to practice elimination with you in the future dives? It was the last dive of the trip. In future I’m going to make that request. There was a follow-up discussion with the DM and dive shop management (as noted, a reputable operation). They are re-evaluating how to handle L.E. during the course of guided dives.

I would like to hear how your actual bite occurred. Was the eel following you, harassing you, out of no where? It was out of nowhere.

 

[terrylowe]

(“I’ve never seen an eel attack a barracuda before&#8221..

When I was in Coz, I thought it was cool to see an eel swimming in the open. So I got closer and turned on the video camera. I was surprised that the eel came toward me, but relieved when he decided to swim past and not devour me. You can hear the dive master grunting a warning to me. He said later he thought I was going to stick my hand out to turn him or pet him.

It didn't occur to me that this beautiful creature was swimming in the open for a reason...it was conditioned to come to a diver looking for food. (Glad I didn't look tasty)

I wanted to thank the op for starting this thread. My future lionfish kills will stay on the reef.

Tuck your fingers and jugular veins in

 

[DandyDon]

AMERMAID – I never mentioned the name of the dive site. It was, in fact, Villa Blanca. I’m curious how you knew this?

Maybe he just heard about it on the dive briefing the next day?

 

[Qnape]

This thread puts me in mind of our own very minor incident diving off Little Cayman last August. It did not involve a green moray (thank goodness), but a Nassua grouper which, for no reason we could fathom, became very agressive with my daughter. She was 16, we were at about 40', no DM around - we handled it on our own. No emergency ascent, but my daughter required some defense (I had to hit the stupid grouper who kept charging in), calming down at depth and very minor treatment once back on the boat (minor bleeding in 3 places). If interested the thread is here http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/near-misses-lessons-learned/349261-grouper-attack.html and includes a photo taken which actually showed a moment of the attack. The groupers at Little Cayman are well known to follow divers, bump them, and even nudge them looking for a rub, but now they are also being fed Lionfish.

DM's have different roles in different places; what I want best is a clear understanding of their role for the dive we are doing today. In Little Cayman it was made clear in each breifing that we could go on our own as buddy teams or stay with the DM for a tour - and that the DM would be killing lionfish they find or are pointed out to them. The lionfish killed were generally cut up and fed to groupers - and some got snapped up by reef sharks. I did not hear of any being fed to or snapped up by eels; I assume that this concept was never considered as being obviously not a wise choice. The DM's never intentionally fed the lionfish to the reef sharks, but we heard of several cases where they swept in and took the fish.

Since we did not stay with the DM we did not look for help when the incident occurred. I AM of the opinion that the unusual behavior of the grouper could have been caused by the institution of the practice of feeding them the lionfish. Perhaps not, but as also stated by a few in that thread, you don't feed (or pet) bears in the park. IMHO, DM's killing the Lionfish is fine, as long as divers know in advance, but feeding the remains to anything is not wise. As others have said, I'd prefer to see them dropped on the spot than offerred to predators who may potentially look for more from every diver they see.

Thank you to the OP for being brave enough to share her experience, and for bringing attention to issues of relevance to all of us diving in "new lionfish country".

 

[paddler3d]

You are a diver at the Baltimore Aquarium? I saw one of them when we came into town for the dive show.

Sure am! We had a table at the Dive Show, so I you saw a blue shirt, it was one of the divers. We're always looking for new divers!

 

[tddfleming]

Sure am! We had a table at the Dive Show, so I you saw a blue shirt, it was one of the divers. We're always looking for new divers!

My daughter and I sat through the program at the dive show and learned all the critters names and how you all have trained and dealt with them. Very interesting. So, when we went to the aquarium we were able to ID the different critters by name. Such as Zoe and the eels. It made going that much more fun, we thought at least. We did see one of the eels, but I cannot remember which one. There was a person there telling people his name. I would love to become a diver there, but I live 3 hours away. We used to live in Carroll County and we had a membership there for years, spent a lot of time there and at the harbor. When you mentioned the eels names, I knew at that point you were a diver at the aquarium.

 

[joh]

I've decided I won't do any dives that involve feeding marine life. There are a few in South Florida /Keys involving feeding of rays/eels such as the "Creature Feature" dive that Capt. Slate does (a friend who worked for Capt. Slate reports that he is missing at least one finger).

I'm sure it's fun and all, until you wind up in the hospital wearing a moray eel on your arm.

No thanks.

 

[WB2GLP]

until you wind up in the hospital wearing a moray eel on your arm.

Come on! That is...like...so last year....anyway!!

 

[bj139]

You made the right decisions. You were responsible for yourself only since it was a recreational dive for you (also maybe your buddy, but that is another can of worms). You ascended safely and were probably within a second of venting your BC when your buddy did it. You came back alive with all your fingers and toes. After watching the video I don't want to leave any appendages hanging out if I dive there. Just curious, how will this affect your future dives in this area?