On Tuesday, September 11, 2001 11:48 AM, J. Kelly Cunningham wrote - in
response to John Nitrox's vivid description of the REAL terror of the deep:

> There is no more ferocious defender of a crop than a Damsel fish.

I beg to differ!  :-)

I've been savaged by anemone fish and attacked by Triggerfish - lots of
them!  They hate me!  I have Huw Porter as a witness that even small
juveniles ignore everybody else in the vicinity and make a bee-line for
me! - and of the two, I'd rather be molested by anemonefish!  :-)

Although having said that, it was an anemone fish that put an end to what
might have been my budding carreer as an on-screen star in a documentary
series.  :-)

It was in Fiji, on the island of Taveuni.  The waters were clear and the
marine life magnificent.  I was invited to point and look at various fish
and show the friendly inter-action between man and life in the sea.  We
discovered a huge anemone on a bed of white coral sand playing host to a
number of anemone fish.  I knelt down on the sand close to the anemone and
pointed to the fish.  One broke ranks and bit my finger.  Encouraged by such
bravado, the others also decided to have a go.  I began slapping at them as
I retreated in a flurry of bubbles.  :-)

In the evening, watching that days filming - with the sound turned up -
there was the usual  phwlereeeerpp-bwwwllllllmmmm of breathing sounds until
the fish bit me.  That was immediately followed by my vocal expressions
filtered through the regulator.  "Ouch!  De fluffing fing bit me.  Little
baftard.  Fake dat!"  It was decided that my services as an environmentally
aware presenter were no longer required!  :-)

Strike