How is it that strobes do not scare the wild life?

[Nemrod]

Wow - that photo with the sweepers is awesome.

Thanks, I sort of like it too. I was having a really bad photo day. I kept getting odd colors in my photos, turned out some unidentified substance was smeared all over the outside of my camera port, beats me but when I finally realized what was going on (I had my stupid switch selected ) I had missed a ton of great shots and was so frustrated it is a wonder I came back with anything.

N

 

[diversteve]

Flash photography is banned by marine park restriction when swimming with Whale Sharks in Holbox. And I think off Utila also. From what I understand it's so that the flash does not spook them into diving quickly which might harm their internal organs.

I've also seen other species of shark "twitch" when a flash goes off near their heads/sensory organs. But from what I've read it's not due to the "flash" but more the disruption in the nearby electrical field. It's part of how sharks sense prey also.

 

[Thalassamania]

My understanding is that the flash duration is too short for fish or sharks to see but that they do respond to both the electrical and acoustic fields of the strobe firing.

R. Martin observes, "The repeated firing of photographers’ strobes near the
head of some whale sharks causes them to roll their eyes tailward
and partially retract them into their sockets."

 

[slowhands]

In the Philippines they caution not to use flash or have shiny jewelry around barracudas. They are attracted to it as if it was a small fish like a shiny sardine, and will strike. One guy was wiggling his finger at a fish in front of him and a barracuda struck and bit it off. The guy lost his finger. So I treat them with respect, along with nesting trigger fish, who will take a chomp out of you if you stray into their nesting territory.

 

[bvanant]

or even worse, provoke an attack from larger animals.

Some animals are clearly frightened off by strobes, shoot them once and they disappear. Others, especially those that depend on camouflage might not run but I suspect that some pygmy seahorses, especially in Lembeh must be nearly blind by now since they have been strobed so many times.
Bill

 

[divingdds]

Most strobes are flash light of extremely brief duration. I rather doubt that the animals have ever been exposed to such things. Brief flashes of light probably just trigger a brief "what was that?" Of course, that is assuming that the animal is smart enough to even conceptualize that much which is doubtful. It is just completely out of their experience. Now nearly all animals can be conditioned but having your photo taken does not hurt unless you are homely and vain. So I just don't think they have any reason to respond.

As for triggering an attack, animals attack either out of self defense, predation or protecting a resource. But the strobe seems to not trigger any of those responses in anything I have ever seen.

Now quite a few forms of sea life will "attack" when they are poked or groped. But I really do not see such responses as an "attack", I see it as a valid form of retaliation.

I agree with you, PatW. Strobe lights are not "natural" lights. No animal on land or in the water can find them natural. Most of the time, my experience, is that strobes scare the animals-invertebrates and vertibrates. The other times, at best, the animals do not exhibit any noticeable change in behavior.