Scary experiences with aquatic life

[Land Locked]

Lepomis macrochirus, Blue Gill.
Also known as, bream, blue bream, sun perch, blue sunfish, copperhead, copperbelly, roach.

Around these parts they are so aggresive we call them Kentucky Piranha. Hence the name of our forum.

They love to bite ears and lips of scuba divers.

 

[Texasdivechick]

I once descended to 90fsw on a rig in the GOM, straight into a school of Bermuda Chubs who were very aggressively defending their nests. They charged at me and my dive buddy, head-butting and swimming into our masks and biting our fins. That was probably the scariest marine encounter I've ever experienced. That was also the first time I realized that one can scream with a reg in the mouth!!

 

[CON8IV]

If I recall correctly, this happened around Sunset Point, Grand Cayman years back. At the end of a pretty cool dive, I was coming back toward shore and got between some huge rocks. Depth was approx. 15 feet, so I figured I'd just check out the rocks and what was living around them for a nice long safety stop. I found out soon enough. About a gazillion Sergeant Majors came over to greet me. Feeding these little buggers must be a common occurrance there, because they were waaaay friendly. It didn't take long for them to discover I didn't have any food for them, so they started trying to eat ME! I started squirting air at them with my octo. but this really got them into a frenzy. Who had any idea a fish the size and shape of a farm-pond Bluegill could bite so freaking hard! One drew blood right in the soft, and sensitive it turns out, spot behind my knee. It sounds silly, but I couldn't get out of there fast enough. So, fellow divers... beware the dread, bloodthirsty Sergeant Major!

 

[Noboundaries]

If you dive in California enough this is a common sight. Here I taped an aggressive Garibaldi defending his nest.

Dave, with all this talk of moccasins and sharks, the contrast of reading "aggressive Garibaldi" just had tears of laughter rolling down my cheeks.

The unfortunate part of that jovial moment is that I woke my wife up at 4:15 AM. Does "Pissed off Dive Buddy" qualify as scary aquatic life?

 

[mjh]

In 25yrs of diving I had my first "scare" this year with a silky shark. To be honest I was not so much scared as wondering "when will this guy get bored with this." I did get a little concerned when the second silky came into view. I was actually snorkeling, not diving. It is part of this video, they say a picture is worth a 1000 words so...

Sharks of Cocos and Malpelo Islands, Costa Rica on Vimeo

 

[ScubaSteve]

Speaking for myself only, I believe I would need to do laundry after an encounter like that

In 25yrs of diving I had my first "scare" this year with a silky shark. To be honest I was not so much scared as wondering "when will this guy get bored with this." I did get a little concerned when the second silky came into view. I was actually snorkeling, not diving. It is part of this video, they say a picture is worth a 1000 words so...

Sharks of Cocos and Malpelo Islands, Costa Rica on Vimeo

 

[Blazinator]

Who had any idea a fish the size and shape of a farm-pond Bluegill could bite so freaking hard! So, fellow divers... beware the dread, bloodthirsty Sergeant Major!

I've heard it said that if damselfish (Sergeant Major, Bluegill etc.) had sharks teeth, no one would be diving!

 

[Teamcasa]

Dave, with all this talk of moccasins and sharks, the contrast of reading "aggressive Garibaldi" just had tears of laughter rolling down my cheeks.

The unfortunate part of that jovial moment is that I woke my wife up at 4:15 AM. Does "Pissed off Dive Buddy" qualify as scary aquatic life?

It certainly does in my house!

 

[Sinbad the Diver]

There is a bluegill that hangs out in the shallows at the base of the stairs at my local quarry. You better have your booties on when you step in.

 

[k ellis]

No boundaries I think thats the scariest thing ever is to have a ticked off dive buddy LOL Hope she forgave you!