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On night dives I’ve seen grouper and cuda take something that we spot lighted. This is why they tell you to circle the object with your light and not shine right on it, one you blind it and two it’s now dinner. Maybe you or your buddies light made it look like dinner was being served?
Glow in the dark sword on a dive, now that is disturbing :)
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Greg - 1/15/2013 8:37 AM 
It was the glow stick for sure. They are attracted to light. I’ve seen underwater videos of people shining lights on fish during a night dive, the barracuda come from nowhere and slice the fish in half. Moral of this story is not to attach glow sticks to yourself on a night dive when you know there are barracuda around :) I’m glad you’re OK. You now have one awesome story to tell!
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Had a similar experience as my buddy caught the eyes of the Barracuda with his camera strobe on a night dive and it came right at him... Similar scary experience, but quite a funny picture of a toothy set of jaws having a head on collision with the camera dome port!
They don’t intentionally attack, but remember, night time is when many fish feed and they can be more aggressive when in hunting mode, especially with poor eyesight... Don’t let it put you off, but take it as a lesson learned :)
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I have learned my lesson for sure. No more glow in the dark swords! But what about all the tank lights? Everyone has a minimum 1-2 lights on their back. That doesn’t seem to attract any unwanted fishy attention? Any why did he slap me? I’m so thankful I never lost a finger. It would never stop me from getting in the water but I certainly didn’t night dive the rest of the week. That might take a little more coaxing.
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I am certain the ’cuda hit the glowstick thinking it was some type of food. I guess it would resemble a popular artificial lure used in the Keys, particularly for catching barracudas on the flats. They come in neon colors: lime green, hot pinks, purple etc, generally made of nylon tubing or rubber, and are very effective.
Also, there was an instance in the Florida Keys, where a diver was killed by a cuda that bit the light attached to either his head or a helmet during a night dive. So lights, flashy stuff etc are all very enticing to this species.
I don’t dive at night so I can’t speak to their behaviour in the dark. But I have had innumerable encounters with single as well as schools of big barracudas. They are curious and will fearlessly follow or face a diver until they lose interest. But I have never encountered any aggression , inspite of the fact that I have speared dozens of them. A few of them as large as 4’. I don’t eat the bigger ones but upto 30" in length, they’re delicious! I’ll see if I can post a pic.
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Here’s the pic of a barracuda that was part of a school that easily numbered 50 to 60 fish. He was one of the larger ones on the outside of the school and he came a little too close for his own good and I speared him.
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Last try to post the url from my photos
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From Scubagerl: I have learned my lesson for sure. No more glow in the dark swords! But what about all the tank lights? Everyone has a minimum 1-2 lights on their back. That doesn’t seem to attract any unwanted fishy attention? Any why did he slap me? I’m so thankful I never lost a finger. It would never stop me from getting in the water but I certainly didn’t night dive the rest of the week. That might take a little more coaxing....
Sometime when you are in the Key’s stop by Atlantis and talk to Captain Slate about this, he does a stupid pet trick where he feeds critters, one being a big cuda named Psycho that has cut his mask, 1st stage hose and him. My daughter and I were out one rough day, just one other diver and a French dive magazine photographer.
There was this ball of Yellowtail with Slate’s long fins sticking out the bottom, the cuda would race thru and come out the other side of the ball with a fish in it’s mouth, how the French photographer caught any of the action is beyond me.
Psycho liked to greet me at the boat when I jumped in but I was the wrong bald guy!
There was another big cuda that hung aroung Christ Statue looking for hand outs, he was missing most of his teeth and depended on DM for food.
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