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Question
I am new to diving, what do I need to know about diving with sharks? And what do I need to know about diving with any other potentially dangerous animal.
Aaron
Ty Responds
Hi Aaron:
Best advice: When diving with sharks, don't strap a piece of meat to your leg. All kidding aside, if you stay relaxed around sharks and follow the advice of the divemaster on shark dives, you shouldn't have a problem. There are exceptions, as always, such as chum in the water (for Great Whites), oceanic whitetips (pelagic shark found mostly in open water) can be aggressive at times, and when spearfishing or hunting. You're not really the kind of meal they're after and they're usually quite skittish around bubble blowers. Shark diving is one of the most exciting types of diving there is, and whole destinations (such as the Bahamas and Tahiti) have been built around their shark diving opportunities. Statistically, unprovoked shark attacks on divers are extremely rare. You're far more likely to get harmed my dogs, cats, falling TVs, driving your car to the dive site, tripping and falling, bees, mosquitos and a host of other uglies than sharks.
As a rule don't touch or grab marine life, potentially dangerous or not.
To answer your question, though, other potentially dangerous marine fauna/flora includes:
Stonefish or scorpionfish have poisonous spines on the dorsal fins. Likewise, lionfish.
Stay clear of urchin spines and fire coral.
Jellyfish have varying degrees of toxicity to humans, with the box jelly (found on Australia coasts during certain seasons) having one of the deadliest toxins in the world.
Seasnakes, though their fangs are quite short and I've never heard of anyone getting bit. But they are curious little buggers.
Titan triggerfish can cause a nasty bite during their mating season.
Humbolt squid feeding at night in the Sea of Cortez can also be aggressive.
Thanks for the question.
Ty
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