There is no more ferocious defender of a crop than a Damsel fish. --kc > X-Sender: [log in to unmask] > Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 17:40:37 -0700 > Reply-To: SouthEast US Scuba Diving Travel list <[log in to unmask]> > Sender: SouthEast US Scuba Diving Travel list <[log in to unmask]> > From: Wayne & Rita McKenzie <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: [SCUBA-SE] The Flesh Ripping Monster of the Indo-Pacific, > <Balistoides viridescens> (A little NEDish, a lot serious, and a caution > sign for Angelo) > To: [log in to unmask] > > A Trigger Fish?? > > > At 07:15 PM 9/10/01 -0500, you wrote: > >. You won't read about it in DAN's edition of Skin Diver, but in the > >regular edition DeLoach and Humann have exposed the identity of the most > >vicious, blood-spilling horror that they have discovered in 30 years of > >exploration of tropical reefs. It's not the great white or the killer > >whale. Neither is it the tiger shark nor the oceanic whitetip that took > >the lives of so many sailors from the Indianapolis. No, it's nothing > >cautious like a shark that a diver can combat. It gives fear; but it > >doesn't have fear. In fact, before the blood clouds the water, the last > >thing that most victims remember in their flailing efforts to escape are > >the twin, vampire-like fangs driving at them in attack after attack. Like > >the toothed steel jaws of a bear trap crushing the leg of a grizzly, these > >jaws were meant to bite. > > > > And they don't just attack the careless or naive newbie. The > >attack on DeLoach verifies what most NEDs know, that even ultra-cautious > >dive gods can easily become victims of this hulking demon that's ten times > >the length of the most ferocious damselfish. This living nightmare can't > >be fended off with a push from a camera as many sharks can, no, the > attacks >come fast and furious and survivors count themselves lucky to just > swim >away with lost fins and a handful of bone gouging scars. It's not > pretty; >the attacks are unprovoked and stop as mysteriously as they start > so if you > >ever find yourself on open sand with scattered coral patches in the > >Indo-Pacific, keep your eyes open for the living nightmare, Balistoides > >viridescens. > > > > > >DPTNST, > > > > > >John > > >