By Karin van Veen (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1787) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 7:01 pm: |
Maybe anyone can shed a light on this. Fred and I are having a discussion. Yesterday we where snorkeling the salt pier, and Fred was pretty impressed by the amount and size of barracuda's there. At one point there where about 4-5 swimming around me, and he thought this was pretty scaring. As far as I know they don't do any harm, as long as you don't tease them. How true is this? Anyone know of snorkelers (or divers) being bitten by barracuda's?
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By Grasshopper (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #17475) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 7:19 pm: |
Karen, it is very rare. They say that shiny jewlery attracts them. We saw a school of about 9 by playa chacha last time. All encounters I've had with them they usually keep their distance and "watch" you...territorial? Maybe the Bonaire diving experts can shed light on their behaviour.
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By Vince DePietro (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #255) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 9:24 pm: |
I've never had a problem with barracuda over the many decades of seeing them here & throughout the Carib. I certainly wouldn't want to either because their teeth are razor sharp, & if they ever did attack, they are faster than a lightning bolt! Not much you'd be able to do about it.
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By herman mowery (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #565) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 10:26 pm: |
The things are thick up here and I have never heard of anyone having problems with them. Still, it's not a good idea to have shiny jewelery flashing around. My very first non training dive off the NC coast introduced me to cudas in a big way. I jumped in and when the bubbles had cleared I realized I had jumped smack dab in the middle of a huge school of them, ALL of which had turned to look AT ME. 360 degs of cudas all interested in me, since then a cuda or 2 does not even get my attention. Sure glad it was a rented wetsuit.
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By Ron Gould (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #469) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 10:56 pm: |
I was in the Sea of Japan during my military stay and was sport diving the area with 3 other Marines. We were at 50 fsw checking out a reef wall having a good'ol time when the light in the sea became dim and the viz decreased. Barracuda do not school in large numbers in the Atlantic, but do in the Pacific. We noticed a large school of Cuda's above us at 40 fsw. In 1964 the diving masks had regular plate glass in them and reflections could be seen by another diver. Well one of the Cuda on the outside of the school saw his reflection in my mask and approached me bumping my faceplate. He withdrew after hitting the plate but had caused my nose to bleed. I was in charge of the dive and let my fellow divers know I was OK and signaled to stay put at this depth. When the dive was over one of the guy's asked me why I didn't clear my mask to remove the blood. I told him that we all would have been fish bate if I would have done so..
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By Becky Hauser (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #291) on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 11:42 pm: |
Wow Ron, that's kind of scary!
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By jenny (BonaireTalker - Post #37) on Friday, April 7, 2006 - 9:41 am: |
Barracuda are harmless to people. I worked for years on a dive boat in the FL keys. I became very friendly with the resident barracudas at Looe Key reef & started to learn their personalities - they are like puppy dogs!
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By Melissa Phillip (BonaireTalker - Post #13) on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 11:25 am: |
According to Humann & Deloach's Reef Fish Identification book; barracuda are harmless. "Barracudas have the unnerving habit of approaching divers and following them about the reef. This appears to be nothing more than curiosity, as there are no reports of unprovoked attacks (only substantiated incidents involved spearfishing or hand feeding.) Normally move away if closely approached." Also noted is that the opening and closing of the mouth assist in respiration.
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By Melissa Phillip (BonaireTalker - Post #14) on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 11:28 am: |
Oooops forgot the photo :
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By DIANE AND BEA (BonaireTalker - Post #92) on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 11:29 am: |
We saw a Great Barracuda in April when we were on Bonaire over by Plaza. She was huge. Just stayed down on the bottom and watched what we were doing. When we go in the water, we do not wear any jewelry or anything shinny. I have a friend that was bitten in Cayman by a cuda, but he was ok after the bite. We have encountered many, but have been lucky. They like to watch us
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By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2400) on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 2:11 pm: |
3 anecdotes about diving with barracuda.
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