moray eel bite

[ssbrix]

On a boat drift dive at Pompano beach Florida I was bitten by a green moray across my hand. I chose to continue the dive for about another 30 minutes while bleeding a little. It required 7 stitches. we had been told no sharks had been seen in the area and the largest predator we saw was the moray. Was I stupid to continue the dive? aside from possible infection.

 

[g1138]

Depends if the boat could have picked you up safely had you aborted the dive immediately.
I would want to get top side and flush the wound as soon as safely possible, then get it checked and treated.
Aside from upping the chance of infection, I would worry about shock and manipulating my gear effectively; without knowing the full extent of your injury, hard to say how worried I'd be.

You probably already got the speel, but there's a lot of bacteria in a moray's mouth, and you would want to let the wound bleed in an attempt to flush out any bacteria from entering your system. In a water environment, this doesn't happen efficiently, if at all.
What did the doctors say about possibilities/probability of infection?

 

[pjhansman]

Nothing to do with your question, but how did you manage to get bitten by a green eel....?

 

[dumpsterDiver]

On a boat drift dive at Pompano beach Florida I was bitten by a green moray across my hand. I chose to continue the dive for about another 30 minutes while bleeding a little. It required 7 stitches. we had been told no sharks had been seen in the area and the largest predator we saw was the moray. Was I stupid to continue the dive? aside from possible infection.

No, the stupid part came earlier in the dive I think...

Hope you feel better. I've been nailed several times by the spotted ones, but the big green morays are truly dangerous if they ever bite.

 

[Abdullah]

No, the stupid part came earlier in the dive I think...

Hope you feel better. I've been nailed several times by the spotted ones, but the big green morays are truly dangerous if they ever bite.

Just curious - what does it take to get nipped by a moray in your neck of the woods? The morays here or pretty docile. Were you handling fish? Or, are they more aggressive there?

 

[DandyDon]

The good news is that your DAN dive insurance should pay any bills not covered by your regular medical plan.

I saw a video from a FB friend's recent Cozumel dive trip, and the DM feeding a speared Lionfish to a Green Moray, that he coaxed out of his hole to swim between the other divers. They are not going to teach the other fish to attack Lions, just to associate divers with handouts.

So how did your accident happen...??

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Just curious - what does it take to get nipped by a moray in your neck of the woods? The morays here or pretty docile. Were you handling fish? Or, are they more aggressive there?

Catching lobsters is the cause normally. Although this video shows the most aggressive green moray I have ever dealt with..

Scuba Failure at 80 feet: GoPro Hero 2 - YouTube

[video=youtube_share;Bap2PxetarQ]http://youtu.be/Bap2PxetarQ[/video]

 

[chrpai]

Depends if the boat could have picked you up safely had you aborted the dive immediately.

I assume that this was a drift dive. You should be able to blog a bag, ascend and be picked up without issue.

Yes, I would have thumbed the dive over that.

 

[Abdullah]

Catching lobsters is the cause normally. Although this video shows the most aggressive green moray I have ever dealt with..

Scuba Failure at 80 feet: GoPro Hero 2 - YouTube

[video=youtube_share;Bap2PxetarQ]http://youtu.be/Bap2PxetarQ[/video]

Good day fishing. That moray just wouldn't take no for an answer.

 

[chrpai]

Catching lobsters is the cause normally. Although this video shows the most aggressive green moray I have ever dealt with..

Leave your gear all over the reef, molest animal life with your spear and generally scream like a girl. Sigh...