Dangerous Barracudas

    Last time i visited Austins, i spoke with one of the guys there and he told me a story about an incident which happened last week to an scuba diving instructor.
    Apparently he was ascending on a line and was struck in the face by a barracuda at full speed. the fish went under his mask and the guy lost his right eye. He swam back to the boat ok and made it to the hospital. He said it felt like if he got punched really hard in the eye.


    The guy lost his eye and now wears a patch. I remember the day of miniseason we went to a spot of mine out of homestead with pantoja and he told me a barracuda passed by him inches from his face at full speed.
    I normally dont pay to much attention to barracudas in the water, but this is something to keep your eye open for since it cost a guy his eye.


    The guy was diving at night and it is believed his mask caught a shimmer of light which represented a fish to the cuda which charged at his face.


    At this ledge in Homestead that i normally dive there are hundreds of cudas and everytime you make a dive 2 or 3 big cudas normally follow you the whole way down and up.


    Just something to keep an EYE out for. And again i heard this from someone the exact details could be different as i didnt speak to the guy who lost his eye in person.

    the guy was diving molasses reef in 25 ft of water, his name is Richard. the cuda slit his eye and it was impossible to repair at the emergency room. he said it felt like if he got sucker punched in the eye.

    Cuda attack very fast. Their first strike cripples the fish if not tears it in half. The damage is probably done more by speed and the consequent impact of the teeth against the fish than any bite power. Our very own JimCuda chose his screen name because a cuda chomped on his hand, I believe he was cleaning a fish in the water off a boat.


    I've seen cudas react almost automatically to flashing object in the water. In Cuba I was told to throw an knife, if the water wasn't too deep, to attract a cuds within shooting range. The cuda always turned and made a brief rush at the knife cutting it short before giving me a shot. As I was reading your post I thought to myself it might have been a flash of light in the mask. It never occurred to me before that this might happen. I was aware however that in tropical waters one shouldn't wear jewelery to beach if planning to swim. A cuda can take possibly take a finger or at least cause severe bleeding.


    I don't know if this story will stick in my mind enough to become weary around cudas. I'm pretty sure though that if you were to look at cudas in predatory mode yourself, they wouldn't perceive you as a target. It's a good eating fish and there should be a market for it.

    I dont think much of it as the chances are really low. I usually dont target them honestly them to avoid screwing up my dive gear. I have eaten them and they are really good eating. I also like to take a few smaller ones if the chance presents itself.


    I bring this story up because as I was hearing it, I remebered pantojas story about one that flew by him inches from his face.


    It is more of a safety precaution than story.

    this is something everyones proobably aware of about cudas, but i work at a salt water fish shop in ft. lauderdale and from time to time our local diver brings in baracudas anywhere between 6 inches and 18 inches or so. we dont like to carry them becasue it really isnt fair to the cuda which needs more room.. but we get special orders for them and hold them until pick up,, msotly ppl with ginormous tanks..
    but whenever working in the tank ive forgoten to take my ring off before and i never even see them hit me i jsut feel it they are so fast,,when feeding ill throw some baby grunts or guppies in and all u see is a streak move from side to side and all the little grunts jsut dissapear.., u literally dont see them hit they move so fast

    Scupper Pro Gives You Wings!

    i know he strictly dives from the beach and usually swims out to first or second reef..
    before i got into spearfishing i would go collecting corals (only legals of course) and cool little inverts and what not,, usually jsut swimming out from the john u loyd area but outside the state park,, ive seen a lot the smaller cudas right over that patch of rubble and macro algea that u swim over before the reef when heading from the shore,,, but im sure thayre much more prevelant in the intercoastal and waterways like you said

    Scupper Pro Gives You Wings!

    I think may have seen your man at Ft. Lauderdale beach. He has a yak and a little sedan that's rusted to shit where he keeps a couple of big round plastic tanks. He's got an aerating pump that's hooked up to his car battery. The whole thing looked pretty shabby but I guess there's no point in using a good truck as it will rust just as fast because of the saltwater.

    i like it.. and yeah i have a pretty nice tank a lot of local stuff which is cool and whatnot and a light s bright as the sun.. its a good college job. i hope to keep it until i finish transfer to fau and through the whole ordeal

    Scupper Pro Gives You Wings!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member to leave a comment.

Register a new account
Sign in now