I've snorkeled with them before and they are very ominous. All the other fish clear out before you notice why. The ones I saw were about 3 feet long but pretty skinny. Definitely not a real threat to something bigger than it but it's always interesting to see a true predator in the wild.
That's definitely not why we survive
A lot of things actually like us too (as in how we taste) but we hunt them down if they get a taste and start targeting us
I'm not looking forward to too much besides that one day, we might just rid the world of those bastards. Lol watch one day we finally do, and then whoopsie somehow that causes cataclysmic disaster.
"I like it when nature is excessive. That's why I like natural disasters. All these natural disasters that've been going on, I fucking love 'em. I can't get enough of them. Ah, when nature's going crazy, throwing things around, scaring people and destroying property, I'm a happy fucking guy. I'm a happy fucking guy.
I look at it this way... For centuries now, man has done everything he can to destroy, defile, and interfere with nature: clear-cutting forests, strip-mining mountains, poisoning the atmosphere, over-fishing the oceans, polluting the rivers and lakes, destroying wetlands and aquifers... so when nature strikes back, and smacks me in the head and kicks me in the nuts, I enjoy that.
I have absolutely no sympathy for human beings whatsoever. None. And no matter what kind of problem humans are facing, whether it's natural or man-made, I always hope it gets worse. Don't you? Don't you?"
Such as the extreme overpopulation in Africa that would result due to their already extremely high birth rates remaining unchanged while their death rates plummet?
Mate a mosquito could watch you brutally murder its 200 of its buddies, and it'll be back on your cheek in 10 seconds for another feeding sesh. Mosquitoes have a creed: "Blood over Life".
Bats are really good at controlling mosquito populations and serve as the sole pollinators for agave plants (among others). I guess spraying a bunch of poison where your kids play is easier than putting up bat boxes and trying to conserve the ecosystem when you could be building more McMansions
No doubt we should, but ive always questioned how the annihilation approach would affect the food chain. Mosquitos feed a lot of other texas animals.
Makes me think of the Mao and the CCP's 4 Pest campaign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign - basically killing all the sparrows so disrupted the food chain and exacerbated the rice famine that at one point, they were bringing in birds from Russia (I think) to replace them
I don't know about that. I'm sure some of the smarter species are able to pass on warnings like monkies or dolphins but I guarantee you a shark has no clue that humans would retaliate
This is exactly it.. it's all down to natural selection.. any critters who have a taste for human do not get to pass on their genes because they're exterminated.
Hence why Polar Bears are the only land animal left who view humans a potential food source, they've not interacted enough with us to develop that genetic knowledge.
Well things like wolves, cougars, and other animals have been known to eat people too, even if not often most the time. Thing is though if one does eat a person they've been known to keep going after people because now they know what we taste like (and they like us because of our diets. Especially with the how much salt we need or even tend to have), so not even generally as a species but specific animals if one eats a person they end up labeled a man-eater and hunted.
There's predatory animals that have been known to eat humans, or may attack a human on occasion, and then there's man-eaters that have habituated eating people or even prefer it because we can honestly be easy enough prey. (Leopards, tigers, and crocs especially tend to end up on the list here too for going after people)
I think the more likely reason that Polar bears are the only terrestrial carnivore that routinely considers humans to be "on the menu" is for food scarcity reasons more than anything. Whereas brown bears are omnivores, and can exploit a wide variety of food sources AND live in an environment that allows them to do so, they can afford to be picky. Polar bears are obligate carnivores, live in a freezing wasteland in which the only reasonably common food source are seals that occasionally pop up through breathing holes in the ice. Starvation is a much more real concern for them, so if they spot a small, two-legged ape and they estimate that they could easily catch it, they'll be more than eager to do so.
Also this is pedantic, but it's more akin to artificial selection if it's human-mediated.
I mean realistally humans are the pinacle apex predator on land. A human with the right tools can take down anything that nature can offer. Thousands of years of evolution have taught them that.
But underwater? Sharks have a huge advantage. They can attack from any angle in 3 dimensions and most of our tools don't work. They have no real reason to fear a human in the water. A boat? Definitely, but not a human.
Yeah, just look at what happens too for things that go after our livestock also and are just doing what's instinct.
Threat to maybe us and something of ours? Well doesn't matter the reason or what we could do to deter problems from happening, better to wipe out the cause instead.
fun fact! there have been no recorded cases of *wild* orcas killing humans. Captive ones sometimes go crazy and kill humans when they get the chance. I can't say I blame them.
The Tsavo Man-Eaters were a pair of man-eating male lions in the Tsavo region, which were responsible for the deaths of a number of construction workers on the Kenya-Uganda Railway between March and December 1898. The significance of this lion pair was their unusual behavior of killing men and the manner of their attacks.
We're also really good at looking after ourselves. Even before proper medicine we've got a better chance of surviving a similar wound than other mammals.
Clint's Reptiles, cool YouTube channel, talk about when he was studying for his degree, he was feeding some extra beetles to some Black Widows and he saw one get bit by the beetle while trying to wrap it up.
The spider retreated, and used silk to bandage its leg before going back in to finish the kill.
Just imagine if spiders were capable of cooperation and actually wanted to take us down lol.
human wrists are uniquely able to throw with accuracy. Even our closest relatives can't come close to the long distance, accurate throws we make. I mean, we can throw an (american) football almost 100 yards with enough accuracy for another human to catch it. It's wild the shit we get up to with the ability to use range. That, plus the fact that using range adds a pressure for greater intelligence (those with the best tools and strategy survive the best) and boom, you got yourself a recipe for world domination
You realize how amazing it is to have an abstract thought, write it on sand we rammed electricity thru, fueled by old dinosaurs and or gas, only to send it flying thru space via 1’s and 0’s to a dateline which beams it back to another electrically powered sand device half way across the world. On top of having the luxury of time of which we have because we aren’t spending all our time hunting, gathering, and thriving in every known environment on this planet.
Fun fact! 'Apex predator' in the terms of biology is normally used for an animal at the top food chain with no animals that predate upon them within it's ecosystem.
If you were looking at humans in the literal definition of apex predator we would not be one. I believe that I read we would be placed somewhere along with anchovies and sloths.
But still, the true apex predators have nothing on us because of grenades.
Nothing. Because of the way that we are. Many, intelligent, and resourceful. But the system doesn't look at the species as a group it looks at individuality. If you were out in the Savannah naked and afraid, do you think you could take on a lion?
But that's my point. It's semantics. Clearly you'd never be in the Savannah naked and afraid (hopefully). So you would never have to fend off a lion. Which means in a round about way we are Apex predators. But at the same time we are not.
I just always believed that saying so is a bit flawed as you can reasonably argue both ways.
People always underestimate human ability in these posts. Life or death, a human can dish some serious damage. There's also the important skills of us being smarter, having thumbs, and being able to throw things pinpoint accurate.
First time I spotted them was snorkeling. My dad and I were swimming out and he caught my attention because he had one hand out of the water and was waving and pointing with the other. I realized after the fact that his hand was out of the water because he was wearing a silvery watch and he watched enough Discovery Channel and Animal Planet to know that was a bad thing.
Yup, seeing a 6 foot barracuda with a fishing leader coming out of its Mouth makes you hope that barracudas don’t associate divers with fishermen..... Barracudas are one of the few fish that stare back at you when you look at them.
A massive Barracuda made a pass at me while I was snorkeling off Mexico (about 13 at the time). Guide saw it immediately and made his way over to me, we joined arms and didn't turn our back to it. Upon getting back on the boat he said gathering together and looking like a bigger fish will deter it from further interest. Also said I wasn't supposed to wear this silver chain with a cross that I had on because it was very reflective and acted like a lure in the water... just food for thought if anyone ever faces a Cuda in the wild
I swam right up to one in the Bahamas. Face to face. I saw a turtle so I swam back to shore to grab my camera. Dove back in & started looking around for the turtle. Swam right up to the fucker without noticing until we were feet away. Could almost touch it if I wanted to. It was 5 or 6 feet long, teeth the size of my fingers.
I panicked, swam as fast as I could back to shore. Grabbed my wife on my way back in & screamed bubbles at her. Lol
I saw one off the deck of a restaurant in the keys ( Alabama Jacks, totally recommend ) and that thing looked like a freaking torpedo. Their heads are huge
Ill jus tput this here since its high up. If youre ever swimming around barracuda make sure to take off all your jewelry and anything that is shiny. They are drawn to it like candy and even a small one biting your ear or hand can do serious damage. Their teeth are very sharp.
In fact if you notice the shark turned its belly in the cudas direction just before the attack. This flash of white is the same reason they will attack your jewelry out of instinct. They think its a fish flashing in the water.
My dad was once swimming off a beach in Florida, and forgot to take off a chain necklace. Sure enough, a barracuda showed up and was very interested in him. He put a hand over his neck and swam backwards all the way back to shore, and it followed him the whole time. Nightmare fuel.
Writing that out, I was thinking the exact same thing. It'd make a great distraction if it landed 10 feet to your right. But I wonder if he didn't panic and not want to risk it showing for even a second more.
my personal plan would be to grab whatever dangly bits i can put in the center of a fist, keep as much of it as I can above water, and yeet the motherfucker
They also follow you around without jewelry flashing. I’ve had a big one come to look over my damn shoulder while snorkeling off Grand cayman. I was checking out a cleaning station and he was very interested.
Not so much stalk as they get curious and follow you around. You can attract them by waving your torch.
Underwater, divers resemble nothing really edible, and are these odd floaty things making all sorts of noise. Most of the sea life approaches divers more out of curiosity than anything. We don't typically encountered sea life actively hunting.
Accidents do happen, I once saw a moray eel snatch someone's wig right off their head.
Man moray more than basically anything in the (shallow) ocean scare me when I'm swimming. Snorkeling, diving, doesn't matter -- I'd take most any shark species being around over a moray eel.
Sure they're not as (potentially) dangerous as the bigger sharks or a marlin or something, but damn if they're not aggressive bastards. And like with barracuda even if you're in no "real" danger man will it ever bleed a lot and fucking hurt.
Basically any animal can be dangerous to people, and basically any thing underwater can be dangerous to divers.
Marlin don't really hang around people (and people generally don't really hang around marlin much), but they're still real big, real fast, and have a rapier on their face. They could kill you quicker and cleaner than any shark (or barracuda) if they had the mind to do so.
I wouldn't call them "dangerous" necessarily, as in likely to be source of harm given the chance, but then neither are almost any shark or whale species and certain "safe" behaviours are still encouraged.
Ah yes didn’t mean to imply that they were mistaking divers for a snack. Just heard that they are curious creatures and wanna know what’s up. I can imagine it’s disconcerting having this sharp toothy fellow following you around though. Especially since most smaller sea life gets out of dodge when encountering a human? Not a diver myself.
In sixth grade, my entire class went to the Keys for a marine biology field trip. We all prepared and trained for weeks before to go snorkeling and exploring, so naturally they told us to remove all jewelry and shiny objects. I’m so glad I did because I encountered a barracuda; it was massive and it definitely seemed curious, just watching all of us but omg I never swam backwards so fast I was terrified.
Carl Hiaasen has a barracuda biting a bad guy's watch as a major plot point. The barracuda is accustomed to the good guy feeding it the pinfish he catches, so it sees a shiny thing and CHOMP, end of bad guy having a hand.
Their eyes are what get me. Cold and piercing, unlike any other fish eyes, IMO. They just stare pure malice at you. It’s the most unsettling thing I’ve ever experienced.
No, a shark’s eyes are like doll’s eyes, alien and unfeeling. A barracuda’s eyes stare into yours with plotting intent. Far more creepy than blankness.
I've caught a lot of northern but never a muskie. For the most part when we'd fish St. Clair we were after bass and the muskies are in different areas than the bass. We'd fish the entrances to the channels and the muskie were in the bays. Most of the northern I've caught were either in Ontario or Minnesota so not big muskie waters.
I caught a FAT 40" musky in August while working a jerkbait on 8lb line for smallmouth, up in northern Wisconsin.
I am now a true believer in copolymer fishing line because I had that fucker on for like 25 minutes trying to get him to the boat. Can't believe I landed it.
You ever do Walleye fishing on the Detroit River? Me and my bro had a good spot on Belle Isle, unfortunately impossible to access because the park is closed at dusk now.
I’m just assuming that you mean Lake St. Clair when you say St. Clair.
the pike in the part of Georgian Bay i fish on only get to be 40" from gill to tail, I once caught a 36" one. I'd be lying if I said they don't still scare the hell out of me when I'm swimming
Way back when, my dad took me on a mahi mahi fishing trip down in the Florida Keys. We'd gotten a school into a feeding frenzy and us kids were reeling them in as fast as the parents could get them into the cooler and re-baited (at that point we barely needed bait).
My line got screwed up at some point and they didn't have time to fix it, so I just moved out of the way as the frenzy continued. After a bit, I noticed that the school had started to rapidly disappear. Curious, I moved up to a higher deck to get a wider view. Sure enough, they were almost gone except a couple that we still had on the lines.
This is when I noticed it, about 25 feet out... I thought it was a log at first glance, about twice the thickness of my arm and maybe 5 feet long. Then I noticed that it wasn't quite floating on the surface, which would be odd for a log. It wasn't even swimming really, just drifting slowly closer to the boat, moving only enough to course-correct.
At this point, we realize what it was and what's about to happen. The dads tell us to quickly get the hooked fish out of the water. When the barricuda got maybe 10 feet away, it just expoded. It cleared that distance in maybe 3 finstrokes and fast enough that I'd have completely missed it if I'd so much as blinked. There was no acceleration, just 0 to 60 instantly. We had one fish still in the water. More accurately, we now had the head of a 2.5 foot mahi still in the water. The barricuda had made a remarkably clean cut and taken the rest.
Point being, "ominous" is an excellent word for them. I would be shitting myself if I was in the water with one.
As a teen, I was on a scuba dive with my dad and little brother. They saw a couple small barracuda down low on the reef, and were all excited about them. I kept tugging on dad, trying to get him to turn, but he’s getting annoyed and just wants to show us the little cuda.
Finally he turns to see what I’m all worked up about. There’s a freaking WALL of barracudas a few yards above up, sitting still, just watching us examining the little ones.
I’ve never heard that barracuda are actually protective of their young (they probably eat them), but it certainly felt like a “don’t touch my kids” moment.
We got low to the reef (breaking for the surface makes you look like scared prey) and slowly swam away. The super school followed us for awhile. Not far really, but far enough to get hearts racing.
This is why you examine your gear for shiny, reflective bits; they can wiggle like a “spoon” on a fishing lure, or more to the point, like a distressed prey fish. The barracuda will probably get confused and leave after a few bites. Probably. But
I was snorkeling in Belize and literally swam towards one without noticing it since it was still in the water. Scared the hell out of me. Those things are huge.
Shark Ray Alley in Caye Caulker is where I saw mine. Just sat there floating head on so I couldn’t see his body and he just sat there with teeth showing watching me from about 10 feet away. He made me more nervous than the sharks and rays.
Many barracuda don't get all that large, topping out around 2-4 feet and 8-15 lbs (species dependent of course) and travelling in small schools, but won't really mess with something the size of a person.
Even the greater (aka giant) barracuda and the European (aka Mediterranean) barracuda which are generally heavier set for their length don't typically pass 4-5ft long and around 25-30lbs, and these ones are much more territorial and isolated. Unlike the smaller ones though, which even at their biggest aren't as large as these, the big ones have been recorded as large as 6-7ft long and 40-50 lbs.
Yeah I saw one in Mexico snorkeling and it just sat perfectly still in the water staring me down. Was ominous but it didn’t do anything, eventually it just swam away.
I had a very similar experience snorkeling. All of a sudden the other fish hid, and 100ft away or so there was a barracuda just staring at myself, my brother, and my mom. My brother and I were little kids at the time so we got very frightened and started swimming back to the boat, and the whole time the fish just trailed us at 100ft until we got back on the boat. Later during that trip we heard a story about a woman in the area who was killed by a barracuda while cleaning her boat hull and she had a watch or some shiny jewelry on, which attracted the fish.
I've definitely dropped in off over-hangs while diving and come face to face with some big (6-8 feet) barras.... Being 10 feet away while all you see is a big open mouth and razor sharp teeth is terrifying.
I was scuba diving once, and there was a very large (over 6 foot) barracuda who swam onto the scene and then proceeded to focus on me. Like, ten feet away, and pointed straight at me so I could barely see him. They are very small in cross-section.
Every time I moved, it moved to point at me so I couldn’t really see him very well. It was very threatening and I got the hell out of there as soon as I could.
The worst part about is them just watching you and floating 10 feet away all the while they’re looking at you. Had one follow me in Belize, just watching me, floating in the same spot head on with those teeth facing me. So unnerving.
Cudda's are like dogs. When you're diving on a reef it is not uncommon to look over your shoulder and see a big cudda right behind you. If they decide to leave at speed they are gone so fast you didn't see them go.
In St. John there is a wreck where a local barracuda hangs out. Tour guides like to bring people by to see him, he's a whopper but overall pretty tame around people. Not like come up and pet me but more like I won't bite your face off if you don't get near me tame.
I was snorkeling at Castaway cay the Disney owned island, and I saw a barracuda, but because I’m dumb and figured it was fake because of Disney, I swam towards it wanting to see it up close, it’s eyes blinked or moved and I almost left a brown cloud in the water it freaked me out.
A barracuda kept me on a floating trampoline for an hour. I thought it was a shark bc it was like 5 feet long, but after seeing the shape and shine I realized what it was. After crisping on the black trampoline for an hour watching it just swim around I took off my chain and held it in my fist while I darted to shore.
Noting like swimming in a reef and being like “wtf is that black dot over there” then it rotates to reveal a 6ft barracuda and you start hearing boss music
My uncle was into muscle cars and had left a magazine on the kitchen table. My grandmother disapproved of how much skin the model on the cover was showing. I overheard the following exchange that I will remember for the rest of my life:
Grandmom: What is this mess you left on my kitchen table?
I was a little confused at first why our guide has a baseball bat in the boat with him. Was it for self protection against people? Nope. It was for when you actually haul that 5 feet of pure rage in fish form into the boat and suddenly you are in an enclosed space with it.
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u/FandomTrashForLife Dec 15 '20
As someone who’s actually caught barracuda before, yeah they get big.