If life were fair, no diver would be bit by a reef critter if the diver played by the rules, i.e., be nice to all life forms, don’t stick your hand in a hole, under coral, and anywhere you can’t see all your digits.

What did me in was my long-standing fascination with the eyes of a flounder. Seconds after I snapped the first picture below, I continued to hover a meter above the flounder. The nearest coral formations where a fish could hide were a least an arm’s length away. I raised my left hand to the camera to adjust the zoom. Snapping the picture, I dropped my hand to my side and WHAM I felt a searing pain. I looked down and saw fluid oozing out of my finger…other than the flounder, no fish were visible ANYWHERE…it struck with lightening speed. Who was that finny marauder?

Is it possible the strobe flash prompted a territorial attack?

After doing a quick assessment of the damage and not liking what I saw, I clenched my fist in an attempt to stem the flow of blood. Is it redundant to hand-signal your dive buddy that the dive’s over with blood streaming from one’s fist? It was a bit unnerving kicking back to the beach in a cloud of one’s own blood. Didn’t this happen in a Leo Di Caprio movie filmed in Thailand and it didn’t end well?

Fortunately, Aquarius has an easy, sandy exit. My poor, long-suffering spouse took one look at the bloody pulp and starting making exclamations about getting to the hospital. By the time I wiggled out of my gear, bloody hand prints were all over the side of the white truck and red stuff was splattered on the sand. Talk about a CSI!

After a thorough rinsing at home, it was clear that whatever did the damage had an incredible rack of incisors and a vise-grip jaw that made the tip of my finger look like it was smashed in a waffle iron.

Despite three deep slices, no stitches appear needed. And on the plus side, I got out of emptying the truck as my better half rinsed and hung the dive gear. I wonder how many more days I can milk this before over-playing the sympathy card.

And somewhere around Aquarius is swimming a flounder wearing a “that’ll teach’em” smirk.

PS To management: Debbie, don’t worry, all the blood-letting took place OUTSIDE…you home is fine.

Oh no! Are you sure you are ok? How frightening. My husband was the victim of a "hit and run" tarpon one trip. It rammed its head into my husband's side and sent him flying into the blue. The speed and force of the strike was amazing.

I do hope you will be fine. If you need anything, just ask.

Greg, salt water helps the healing process. Dive on! And leave that flounder alone. He's got friends.

Greg, Glad to hear you are ok and the blood is all outside...I don't want to play CSI in July when we are there

Very interesting tho! Makes me wonder what DID get you! Keep it clean! Smack is right tho...salt water is great for healing!

Great pix of the flounder tho...I love following them!

(Message edited by ruth0531 on May 24, 2009)

Greg: Wow..never ever heard of a pugnacious man eating flounder before but as we realize the sea & all it's occupants can be unpredictable.

Regarding the salt water & healing; antiseptic salt water may be beneficial but the water in the ocean is far from antiseptic. Clean the wound well, with a 50-50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide & water, & than liberally apply an antibacterial ointment. Doing anything else is asking for trouble.
PS I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV

Greg~ WOW...that IS a scary story. Take care of

your finger and remember soap and water are


your friends!! Keep us updated on your


progress...My suggestion would be to keep it

covered during the day and at night leave it

open to air.

Tribs~ the tarpon story is one I've never heard

before and leaves me feeling a little unnerved!

I LOVE !!!!!


those guys and am anxious for them to swim with

me on night dives and any other time. I will

usually swim up to them and be able to get within

inches before they move. Should I be cautious

of the tarpon now??? I always thought they were

docile.

wow that is scary.. perhaps a fast parrot fish.. or maybe a shadowing trumpet fish??? an eel in the coral head???
Keep it clean!!! I suggest rinsing it with fresh water each time you come out of the salt water...and ouchie keep the sand out of it...

NO...don't be nervous about them. It was a total fluke. On night dives, they just cruise along with you. They might bump into you while cruising, but it is nothing. This happened in the middle of the day at 18 Palms. We came upon the elbow in the reef and it was sitting there and evidently did not like Wes. The next thing I knew Wes was out in the deep blue. LOL! Always have a healthy respect, but enjoy yourself when diving with them. They are amazing creatures!

The operative word here is tetanus shot

Greg, WoW! Hope your finger is on the mend, I think I am going to be quite a bit more respectful of flounder now. Excellent eye shot, btw.

You may never "really" know what got you as you were so fully involved with the photo op going on, but my thoughts are you got too close for comfort for some critter. I can be watching a fish so closely and not even realize till I am done with absorbing every detail in mind that there is another beauty hidden in the coral somewhere too.

Michael has a good point on the tetanus shot, I just made sure Tiffany was up to date on her shots before she goes to the island and myself. She always manages to get herself in humorous, but sometimes injury situations. Ask Michael, last time she was on island, her and friend were at Sand Dollar and for those that know the lay of the land there, a lot of iguanas hang out on the concrete slab where Green Parrot was, anyway, the girls decided to go down there and get real close to get pictures of all the cool iguanas, not really thinking that they may not appreciate it or think they may have food. Anyway, a couple of them stand up on their hind legs and start running at the girls, Tiffnay tripped up the concrete steps to get away from them and scraped up her toes pretty bad, had flip-flops on. I was out food shopping, but Tiffany remembered me saying how wonderful and helpful Michael Gaynor is and the girls went to Chat-N-Browse to seek help. I am sure Michael had to hold in laughing at Tiffany's story, but he sure did come through as he set her up with Hydroproxide and cleaned her up. You can imagine me standing in Bonaire Warehouse getting that call from Tiffany. True story.

In Cozumel I watched a Mexican dive master get bit on the neck by a PO'ed eel. That stopped me from taking their pictures, ever! That thing was fast and not happy. Shot right out of the reef and latched on. WOW!

I'll bet it was a damsel fish. They are such brats!

So...am I the only one who wants to see the hand? I almost stopped by this morning and knocked on your door. Post a pic already.

No Tribs, I want to see it too...it's that EMT in me that has to see the gory details!



We are all just a bunch of cut-ups!

ok gals just on a long shot .. isn't that his finger in the photo above ?????????????

DDOH, it is, but we want clarity

Ok I understand... lets see the hand so we can make sure he is taking care of it properly ???? good Morning BTA

Morning, Freddie! Going to make money today?

And yes, we want to make sure he is taking proper care. Of course Tribs has an advantage of being able to pop over to see him and bring him all our good will in person!

(Message edited by ruth0531 on May 25, 2009)

LOL Freddie, I thought it was a blurry pic of a flounder eye...i see the blood now...

yea, we want a pic with clarity.

I wonder if it was a barracuda?

You been "bit and run"

Mr. Digit, pointing to the scene of the assault, wants to thank all for their concern and good wishes. Healing is taking place.



Mr. Digit is emoting over missing a day of diving.



Mr. Digit is NOT making a naughty hand gesture. The injury was, after all, on the middle finger.

For those clamoring for more gory pics, maybe this will work for you:



An OJ moment? Does AmEx Premium Car Rental Insurance Program cover blood stain removal in the vehicle’s interior?

To put this in perspective, a certain Florida diver won’t be pestering a porcupine fish anytime soon:



Since there’s a creature lurking in the reef that’s had a taste of my flesh and no doubt wants more, I’m taking no chances and will now be diving with increased security:

ALLI can say Is.....WOW!!!!!!

Try this vide. Help with your security is on the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqW3hr9qO-E

Hi
My money is on an unseen eel. Although Damsels are definitely aggressive little SOB's I don't think one could do that much damage. The flounder? Well, you were looking at him.
Mick

I would be inclined to think of an eel but barracuda is likely. I would be curious if your hand was near the sand. I have watched a sand diver (lizard fish) grab a meal in lightning fashion and disappear very quickly under some coral. They appear to have mean jaws as well.

I would actually guess it was a whitespotted filefish, they have a row of sharp knife like barbs on their tails. Maybe one was swimming by and happened to hit your finger in an attempt to defend. Since you swung your hand to your side that could have happened and the fish could easily have swam away behind you. With a mask on it is very very difficult to see all around you (we have all had instances where you think you lost your buddy and frantically look all around you only to find out after 20 seconds or so that he/she is diagonally above you) so you may have missed it swimming away.

Just my two cents. Hope the finger heals fast and Michaels advice is solid...go get tetanus shots!

(Message edited by bnoij on May 25, 2009)

Sure hope you are getting better .. Get the tetanus shot. We always keep up with ours. I was just stung by some floating jelly fish whatever they are . Had welts, breathing ok, and this happened in Aruba ! You never know what is in the ocean. Hope the finger heals quick

Wow on the blood...so it must be bad....very unhappy middle finger...

Never thought about a file fish as the culprit.

I had an incident on Bonaire during my last visit, a piece or coral jumped up and bit my finger. The interesting part was that it keep bleeding and when we passed 60' I turned into a Vulcan. That's right green blood. It was so fascinating I actually squeezed some out, I thought of sharks and almost spit out my regulator. Laughing and diving...the not so silent killer.

You think I took a picture, not and I'm not doing a controlled experiment.

I like your security team......

"To put this in perspective, a certain Florida diver won’t be pestering a porcupine fish anytime soon: "

Don't make fun of that diver - ha! he was my DM for Adv Open Water I know him :-) LOL