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#51828
Eel eats scuba divers face
Greg - 7/16/2013 9:42 AM
Category: Health & Safety
Replies: 10

"It gripped on to my face and threw me about violently. It was biting, pulling and twisting on my face."



"I couldn’t panic, we were 25m under water. My regulator had been knocked from my mouth, so to panic would have made the situation a whole lot worse with the risk of drowning."
"When it finally let go, I could see that it was a conger eel swimming away from me, bigger than myself, so over 6ft in length. It was about the width of a human thigh, so it was very strong."


http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/diver-felt-like-a-rag-d...attack-29416991.html
#20480
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Caloosa - 7/16/2013 10:27 AM
Thanks for posting...obviously no luck of the Irish on this dive!
#783
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dontdiveenuf - 7/16/2013 12:34 PM
What they didn’t mention (or think about asking the poor fellow) was what was going on just before the attack. The eels I’ve encountered tend to be very shy. But I’m not familiar with Conger Eels; are they known for being particularly bad tempered?
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Eric_R - 7/16/2013 12:53 PM
Looks like that eel made a hole big enough for his octopus to go in. Shows you what kind of power these thing have. I bet that takes a while to heal.
#3829
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SantaFeSandy - 7/16/2013 3:33 PM
Wow!!! So now I’d like to know more of the story, like, how did it happen, how did he get an air supply re-established, how did he get medical help, what were the damages, what is his prognosis....
#3829
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SantaFeSandy - 7/16/2013 3:42 PM
Well, I just now looked at the original article, and while another "comment" mentions that the photo "looks bad," honestly, as one who has dealt with some grizzly injuries on humans, myself, and animals, to me that facial injury does not look so bad at all.

If his entire face had been mauled, like what happened to the woman that the Chimpanzee got a hold of, then I’d say he had some serious problems. However, this is not the case, and his injury, though deep, is nothing more than the size of of the guy’s eyeball.

Yes, it’s scarey looking with all that blood smeared about, but in reality, it’s not that big of a deal, barring infections.
#4035
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uwlover4u - 7/17/2013 6:47 AM
There’s got to be more to the story then this guy is letting on. I was always trained that when you get injured by sea life underwater it’s your fault, you did something wrong. Anyone else feel the same as I do?
#783
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dontdiveenuf - 7/17/2013 6:57 AM
That’s kinda what I was getting at without coming right out and saying it. :-(
#51828
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Greg - 7/17/2013 7:21 AM
I would have to agree. Chances are there was foul play involved. Either the diver got too close to the eels hideout, our he was provoking it somehow. However, given the size of the eel, it could have just been protecting its territory and it didn’t feel afraid of the diver.
#15534
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Brian_V - 8/11/2013 10:04 AM
From uwlover4u: ... I was always trained that when you get injured by sea life underwater it’s your fault, you did something wrong. Anyone else feel the same as I do?

...might not always be the case, unless you believe that it’s always the divers fault because they choose to go into the animals territory. Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, looking in holes and nooks to see what’s in there, and this eel lashed out to protect its home! A Morey eel grabbed me by the ankle once because I swam too close to his hole, I didn’t even see it before the attack! I didn’t do anything to provoke it other than inadvertently swimming to close to it borrow, maybe this guy did the same thing?