Eel Attacks Buddy

[mark1967]

FYI,

My Scariest diving experience. Didn't have my underwater
camera because I forgot the o ring.. (stupid, stupid, stupid) Then
again, having a camera housing may have prevented me from
helping my buddy quickly.

Diving Sunday off Fort Lauderdale on a wreck at 125 feet when a
6 foot green eel bit my dive buddy in the arm, rupturing a vein.
Bleeding badly, we made an emergency accent to the boat,
called the Coast Guard and headed towards the inlet. Hopped in
an ambulance and stopped the bleeding.

Dan is covering everything. I am so glad we both have coverage
and neither of us got the bends...(very lucky) We were down for
15 minutes before the attack, using Nitrox 32, the paramedics
said the Nitrox was very helpful in preventing the bends since we
had not reached saturation points.

I can't tell you how fast things can go bad at depth. One second
we are spearing a hogfish, then in a flash this eel comes out
and bites my buddys arm. I can't begin to describe the amount of
blood that was squirting out of his arm. He also used 1200
pounds of air in about 2 minutes after the attack, until he reached
the boat. Diving with Steel 120's gave us that extra cushion. I was
floating next to him with a knife watching for sharks and
baracuda, but this eel came from inside the ship very fast.

I decided quickly, better to get the bends then watch my buddy
bleed to death under water or on the boat. After seeing this
firsthand, I will never dive without insurance.

Bottom Line: Never underestimate the ocean, and the potential
risks involved. Be careful out there. Don't mess with eels, the bite is awful..It's Tuesday and his wound is still bleeding...

Mark

 

[Drewpy]

Geez, that is some scary stuff!!!Glad you guys made it up and out OK! That could have been serious to say the least!
Why do you think the eel attacked,was it completely unprovoked?
Gald your buddy is OK -sounds like a nasty wound though..ouch!

 

[mark1967]

We talked about that Sunday night while we were eating the Hogfish. Our guess is that we were on "his" ship trying to get the spear out of this hogfish. The spear went in at an odd angle through the gills, and we were working for a few minutes trying to dislodge the spear.

The Eel, came straight across the deck and right up behind my buddy. I screamed, but the eel bit him hard under his arm around the elbow. It let go immediately probably because it realized his arm was not part of the fish. Then it went to the fish, circled and then chased me a few feet off the ship.

We were both wearing skins and gloves, while holding the hogfish, he probably wiped some of the scent on the wetsuit, causing the eel to go for his arm...that's just our best guess...

 

[scubaspider]

The reasoning w/ the fish scent sounds reasonable. I'm just curious, y didnt u try and fight the eel since you said it chased you for a bit??

Also, was there ne way that you could have adminstred first aid underwater at depth or while ascending?? Just curious.

 

[diverjed]

Go to thread under Basic Scuba Discussions called 'Is Scuba Dangerous'.

Let me know what you think.

 

[budcris]

what wreck where you on when the eel attacked you

 

[Cave Diver]

IMO, the eel was merely after food. Biting your buddy was probably just a case of mistaken identity. I have read somewhere that eels have poor eyesight and that they generally track down their prey by scent.

Having played with some on numerous occassions, including feeding them, I can tell you first hand they are somewhat eratic when there is food around.

They tend to "hunt" all around trying to locate the source of the food, and once they do they zip out like a lightning bolt and grab it.

I did a dive in Cozumel where we took some chunks of calimari with us for feeding stuff in a ziploc baggie. Eels were coming out of the woodwork, swimming all around us and starting to get very aggressive til we realize what they were after and dumped it.

The bite from an eel can be a nasty thing and nothing to play with. Sounds like you made the right decisions to go up and get help.

Hope it all works out for him.

 

[David Evans]

mark1967 once bubbled...
We talked about that Sunday night while we were eating the Hogfish...

You've got a buddy that is bleeding from a pierced vein in his arm at 125 feet and you bothered retrieving the hogfish you had speared?

 

[SM Diver]

I have known people bit by eels while trying to extract a wounded fish or bug out of a hole, but never heard of one that came screaming out of a wreck. That's pretty wild.

 

[Cave Diver]

David Evans once bubbled...


You've got a buddy that is bleeding from a pierced vein in his arm at 125 feet and you bothered retrieving the hogfish you had speared?

You gotta have priorities man! Wouldnta wanted him to get bit for nothing would ya?