Photography and Barracudas

[mandrake]

That's cool that you could get them free of the line. I don't know whether I would attempt such a thing. I do accept the fact that they're wild animals, and as such are unpredictable. I don't like to touch anything I can avoid, but rescuing an obviously distressed fish is a real grey area.

What would you do in this situation? My own answer was to keep swimming.

http://www.pbase.com/image/21091417/large.jpg

 

[Dee]

That's just a little bit different! Although I know divers who regularly pet those sharks on the wrecks in N.C. They say they are very non-aggresive.

To cut the 'Cudas loose, we got on the opposite side of this steel beam and slowly reached around with shears and cut it at the hook. I know this sounds corny but it was almost like they knew what we were doing. They didn't swim away, in fact both of them followed us around the wreck for the rest of the dive. BTW, these 2 'rescues' didn't take place at the same time. In fact they were years apart, just very similar circumstances.

 

[mandrake]

Dee once bubbled...
Although I know divers who regularly pet those sharks on the wrecks in N.C. They say they are very non-aggresive.

Sigh...some people deserve to become a statistic. I wish humans were as non-aggressive as sharks.

 

[ssra30]

I don't see a lot of Great Baracuda over here, but we have quite a bit of schooling barracuda that look less scarry

 

[Hory]

Guys,

Thanks for the replies. Am more concerned about their behavior after the strobe fires. I've had several instances where a clown fish would take a nib at my strobe so I was wondering if cudas would do the same.

Dee, great pix. Quite courageous of you to approach one that close.

Best,
Hory

 

[mandrake]

This is about as close as you can get, short of clunking one in the head:

http://www.pbase.com/dkusner

 

[Dee]

Very nice.... He needs some mouthwash!

 

[ssra30]

Hory once bubbled...
Guys,

Thanks for the replies. Am more concerned about their behavior after the strobe fires. I've had several instances where a clown fish would take a nib at my strobe so I was wondering if cudas would do the same.

Dee, great pix. Quite courageous of you to approach one that close.

Best,
Hory

I have seen Saddleback anemonefish that can get a bit more territorial and get rather upset when you get close to its nest. I think it is more because you are invading its space rather than the strobe looking appetizing, I think.

Here in Thailand, especially around Koh Tao, I am a lot more worry about triggerfish which can get right down nasty!

 

[TedJ]

I wish I could have helped this one. Taken at The TugBoat in Curacao. There were a pair just as friendly as could be.
TedJ

 

[Dee]

ssra30 once bubbled...
Here in Thailand, especially around Koh Tao, I am a lot more worry about triggerfish which can get right down nasty!

Here, too. It's the Triggerfish that I really watch out for. I have a friend who needed plastic surgery for a gash in his head from a Triggerfish guarding her nest. He was a good 10ft from it at the time. I've got a set of fins with a chunk bitten out of it by a Triggerfish.

They are aggressive, vicious, and attack without warning.