Head diver killed by stingray

[chillyinCanada]

Omg zombie thread!

 

[Biotech Diver]

The story should read........ "Diver dies after intentionally provoking a sting ray into its natural reaction to protect itself"

Kind of an ironic statement considering you are so close to that wolf eel in your photo. Ha!

 

[wgw04024]

The story should read........ "Diver dies after intentionally provoking a sting ray into its natural reaction to protect itself"

Out of pure curiosity, this was worth it on a 7 year old thread?

 

[Hoyden]

Since this was in aquarium, why not the stingray barb cut?

Sorry, I missed that this was so old.

 

[bathbiggles2]

The images of rays at Singapore Underwater World which I have seen show some large species. Whilst they dont state which species was involved in the incident if it was a large individual they can have barbs as much as 30cm in length and several centimetres wide, combined with the toxins effectively makes the barb a venomous serrated knife. From the first link it appears he was stung in the chest, as such the toxins could possibly have caused a cardiac arrest not to mention the possible physical trauma to any organs. Very similar circumstances to Steve Irwins tragic death.

I can vouch for the effect of a stingray 'sting'. I accidentally stood on a small one whilst wading ashore from a dive in Australia. The barb went through the top of my boot and right though my foot making wounds top and bottom. The next two hours were the most painful of my life (and I've had a few nasty injuries) - and the only thing which relieved that pain was putting my foot in near-boiling water- bliss! The toxin is very nasty stuff and the serrated 'blade' makes quite a mess of flesh!

 

[John the Pom]

I can vouch for the effect of a stingray 'sting'. I accidentally stood on a small one whilst wading ashore from a dive in Australia. The barb went through the top of my boot and right though my foot making wounds top and bottom. The next two hours were the most painful of my life (and I've had a few nasty injuries) - and the only thing which relieved that pain was putting my foot in near-boiling water- bliss! The toxin is very nasty stuff and the serrated 'blade' makes quite a mess of flesh!

That's definitely a likely scenario to get stung. The exact same thing happened to a diving buddy, up near Broome. Wading ashore from a boat in the shallows, she stepped on a stingray, and received a nasty gash in the leg - very painful but, luckily, it didn't damage any major blood vessels. But it was a triple-whammy: the physical trauma of the wound; very painful venom; and a high risk of infection.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

The story should read........ "Diver dies after intentionally provoking a sting ray into its natural reaction to protect itself"

Kind of an ironic statement considering you are so close to that wolf eel in your photo. Ha!

Yep....I get that.. If a Wolf Eel kills me then I probably deserve it.

Out of pure curiosity, this was worth it on a 7 year old thread?

I didn't resurrect this 7 year old thread....... Just read it and reacted to it. Didn't even think to look at when it was first posted.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Kind of an ironic statement considering you are so close to that wolf eel in your photo. Ha!

While I really wish people around here wouldn't interact with wolf eels like they do, they are rather docile creatures. Divers feed them to get better pics (things like hotdogs at time - shaking my head), pet them, etc.. While I'm not marine scientist, I suspect there has been some alteration of behavior due to the interaction with divers. It isn't like juvenile steller sea lions that inititiate play, so much that the British Columbia authorities shut down dive charters going to Norris Rock where in winter a large colony of steller sea lions are every year.

I even had one of those sea lions grab my fin in the Puget Sound which is a rarity for them to be that far south.

 

[Biotech Diver]

Yep....I get that.. If a Wolf Eel kills me then I probably deserve it.


I didn't resurrect this 7 year old thread....... Just read it and reacted to it. Didn't even think to look at when it was first posted.

I was just giving you a hard time because I thought it was funny. I've encountered wolf eels on a number of dives around Monterey Bay. They are scary looking but, as someone said, they are docile and just want to go about their business.

I've seen some divers in Florida doiong some really stupid things like trying to pet a moray eel or get too close to a nurse shark, or harass goliath groupers and sea turtles. I'd say 99% of the divers I saw in Florida didn't bother the marine life but you have that 1% down there that give everyone else a bad rep.

 

[Biotech Diver]

While I really wish people around here wouldn't interact with wolf eels like they do, they are rather docile creatures. Divers feed them to get better pics (things like hotdogs at time - shaking my head), pet them, etc.. While I'm not marine scientist, I suspect there has been some alteration of behavior due to the interaction with divers. It isn't like juvenile steller sea lions that inititiate play, so much that the British Columbia authorities shut down dive charters going to Norris Rock where in winter a large colony of steller sea lions are every year.

I even had one of those sea lions grab my fin in the Puget Sound which is a rarity for them to be that far south.

I had a sea otter in Montery Bay tug on my fin and when i shrugged him off, a moment later he nipped my achilles tendon! I finished untangling the rope in dive float that we were using to teach a class of new students, and then decended and he went on about his way.