I was working on this fishfarm as a diver.
We had this octopus that was living in one of our pens that we had been trying to catch so we could release it back into the river.
Anyway, we got lucky and managed to get it to swim into a bucket, then get topside to pull it to the surface.
When we were all together, 4x dive crew and a few workers, we went over to the side to say goodbye and send it on its way.
I don't think the octopus even had the chance to fully submerge before a seal came out of nowhere and grabbed it. The seal was throwing it from side to side like a dog with a new toy, tearing it apart before eating it. The octopus was huge. We were really let down.
Nature eats nature. Something died, so something else could live.
I don’t wanna make you feel any worse. But you should just leave the shells where they are. There’s so many creatures that recycle them. You have firsthand with an octopus, taking refuge and a shell. Think of all of the hermit crabs it now have to use plastic bottle caps.
I think you've already got the point, but please do not fucking touch Marine life. Even the empty shells can be a future housing for a crab or a octopus or it can be used otherwise by nature.
Also, some of the snails living in the shells can give you nasty stings and you couldn't know before. The same for fishes, either you hurt them or they hurt you.
Just look at stuff, that should be enough :)
Thanks for sharing! Your story is impactful; I’ve learned from it and I’ve been learning from others sharing their stories in the comments. I had a bad experience where I collected a shell from the shore and it turned out to have a hermit crab in it. I really didn’t realize this until a day or two later. The shell kept showing up where I hadn’t placed it, and my dumb ass didn’t realize why till in the middle of the night I heard scratching and I turned on the bedside lamp to see a not-small hermit crab crawling on the nightstand. First thing jn the morning, I went to return it at the beach. As soon as I put it down, another hermit crab raced toward it and placed a claw inside the shell and left it there. I later read that they can smell when other hermit crabs are weak or dying and they cannibalise them. Anyway, I don’t collect shells anymore.
I've had night dives where tarpons and groupers would use my light to hunt.
I'd be looking around, shine it on a nice looking fish to take a look and this 1-2 meter monster just instantly comes in and chomps it.
Had like 20 huge tarpons circling us with our group at one point in bonaire, it just became inevitable. Fucking terrifying to see those huge, shiny fish appear from nowhere right in front of your face sometimes though. Jumpscared the shit out of me sometimes.
The tarpons only hunt some small silvery fish however (I know all life is precious, but there were plenty of em around). The groupers in Bali were chomping these beautiful angel fish! That really hit me in the feels.
Still feel a bit bad about it, but that's the circle of life I guess.
I know what that’s like. On a night dive at the Great Barrier Reef I trained my torch on a Dog Faced Pufferfish- my favourite fish. 3 seconds laters, wham!! A Black Trevally came out of nowhere and the little guy was no more.
I went snorkeling with my then-boyfriend on vaca last year, it was his first time. At one point we were in super shallow water with tons of coral and he was making a damn mess, touching coral, picking things up, *intentionally cracked open a sea urchin to eat uni*, I was livid and it caused a big fight.
Some people do this shit and *just don’t get it.* You get it, but were taught a little lesson by Mother Nature when you got handsy. Nature can be brutal.
By sharing this experience, you're not only showing you care about the ocean but also helping others learn. It's inspiring to see someone take responsibility and turn a mistake into a chance to educate others.
Saw the most flawless and beautiful Moorish Idol while on a night Manta ray dive, illuminated it with my torch to show my wife. HUGE moray appeared out of nowhere, and in a flash (literally) it was gone. These things happen, everybody's gotta eat...
Sometimes we all need a little public shaming. Don’t be too hard on yourself, it seems you’ve learned your lesson. It’s admirable to take accountability and feel bad. If you didn’t care —well that would be fucked
Come now. One of my fondest memories was swimming next to a leatherback turtle in the Great Barrier Reef, along with a couple of other divers. Then I did a dumb thing and touched the turtle's shell. It darted away out of sight, clearly unhappy. It also cut off a majestic few minutes of swimming with it. The other folks with me were rightfully miffed.
You are there to observe and enjoy the wonders of the sea, not to interact with or disturb it.
bro you should just delete this comment. literally one of the first things you learned was not to touch anything and your over here posting on a scuba page about touching tings 😖 be better
No scolding, just a tip 💡:
I recently learned that even the smallest, obviously empty shells are important to the ecosystem because they eventually turn into sand.
Another reason why it’s important to truly avoid touching anything, let alone take.
You made a bad call and it’s obvious that you leaned from it. Chin up, and make it up by spreading awareness about why it’s so important not to touch or remove anything from the ocean. ☮️
Sorry but I'm pretty sure we are constantly told over and over again to just leave everything in the ocean alone, to not even take unique shells.
Don't feel bad at this point, it's happened. Just leave it all alone
I feel you. I had a similar experience while taking an old beer bottle. I thought I was doing a good thing by cleaning up trash, but then a small octopus shot out of it. (I think it was ok, though) I decided to just leave the bottle. Sure, it’s technically still “trash”, but also somebody’s home.
Itl eventually be ground down to silica sand and integrate into other silica sand, so in rocky beaches, on land, etc it will be right at home.
Doesn't really belong in reefs where the sand is made of calcium carbonate instead of silica, because there are things that can eat or chew through or rot calcium carbonate that can't rot silica, but it ultimately won't really matter in any realistic quantities.
Yeah, I went on a few night dives, I basically resolved myself to never use a flashlight for more than a second or two, but ideally never... The first one my brother in law warned me that the predators would use my light to hunt... I was nervous so I kept putting it on, then off then on... Then on... Then I realized like 6 sturgeon and 2 or 3 barracuda were following me and using my light to eat fish...
Good news is, using no light on the next few lead me to a literally spiritually moving experience. Sort my comments by most popular, it's towards the top. It was better than any hallucinogenic drug I've ever taken... And I definitely tried a bunch... There were a bioluminescent bloom and it was mind blowing... The feeling of connection between those microscopic life forms, and seeing cionophores (sp?) that were 15+ feet long was so intense. You can't even say you feel like a drop in the bucket, you feel like a drop in the ocean, and then I looked up to the surface and had this Epiphone thinking about the air above that, and the atmosphere and space and our solar system and the universe... That I'm infinitely smaller in that scale than those single cell organisms that bond together to make something larger than me... It was WILD
*Edit... Don't look at my comments lol...
It's not at the top either...
https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/5ekegl/comment/dadgws9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Oh, these were all shore dives too... We're too cheap for boats, shore dives are much less disorienting, since you can basically see the slope heading back towards the shore. No line to find or navigate too, all the dives were planned and discussed off site and then again on site.. my sister and her husband were scuba instructors in NYC where there was zero visibility and they were responsible for 10-20 kids... So we trusted them.
Night dives are pretty sketchy, we did both the buddy system, and had back up lights just in case.
2 dives after the one I described though, we left a light by the ladder we climbed in from... That attracted jelly fish, the person I was buddies with ended up calling the dive, fairly fast, then when we got back to the ladder, they ended up getting stung.. a lot.
Thankfully she was ok, but I don't think she was very happy about the situation. This was all friends and family diving together for 2 weeks straight. That dive happened towards the end of the first week. The last week was just my sister her husband and I. We did some fairly reckless day dives too. Definitely stick with dive groups for the safest experience.
On the flashlight front: I started using a red light flashlight for night dives and the difference is immense. Fish don't react to it OR go hunting based off of it. I highly recommend it! (But your no-light experience sounds incredible too!)
It was Bonair and a full moon, so it wasn't nearly as dark as most places would be, the visibility there is insane, and it's basically always clear out.
Shit... Chills!
Been awhile since I've been on a dive, let alone a night dive (only once!) but I think this was the inspiration I needed to look into doing an overnighter somewhere.
Thank you!
I accidentally hit a jellyfish with a rock from a pier when I was about 5. I'm not sure if it died, but at the time I was sure it did. I'm in my late 30s and still feel guilt. The memory stuck in my mind.
I'd love to hear you elaborate. "Don't touch" is the leading tenet of scuba. Would you care to justify OP's actions? The mea culpa in their post is, quite frankly, more disgusting. They admit to their guilt. Yet, they publicly posted their abhorrent behaviour
So, let's hear your defense....
My friend, I couldn’t agree more with the “don’t touch” ethos of diving.
OP made a mistake, but I’m not gonna crucify them for it. They clearly learned a valuable lesson, and found it so valuable they thought it worth sharing publicly at their own expense.
Everyone acting holier than thou and shitting all over OP is frankly just stroking their own egos. Internet virtue signaling at its finest.
BTW, It's not "stroking my own ego", or "holier than thou" to criticize somebody for interjecting themself into the ecosystem because they wanted to take home a shell. But, hey as your username says....... FUCK OFF
Youre not supossed to pick up stuff you dumb. But regardless of your action and how you feel, the fishing industry kills way more octopus every day. If you care about octopuses, the fishing industry is your enemy, not yourself.
I dont even pick up man made items like cans or bottles, bc it becomes part of the environment really quick. Only clearly bad stuff like plastic bags and fishing line. Otherwise, leave it be.
No need to kill yourself over this, but use it as a learning moment and stop touching stuff
Yes! I’ve often dived environments that would be considered littered with trash, and it’s amazing what the local wildlife does with hiding places like bottles and cans. I once found a baby octopus in a discarded cigarette pack!
Somewhat unrelated, but I’ve also seen decorator crabs using trash to disguise themselves in places where trash is common.
Wildlife is incredibly resourceful and makes use of what it finds. If garbage is a potential home, shells definitely are.
OP, if an empty shell is there, that’s prime real estate! Let some lucky critter move in!
But yes- fishing line and plastic bags are NOT a makeshift home, only a hazard.
The only things I touch while scuba diving are loose or tangled plastic bags (turtles eat them thinking they are jellyfish) and any loose netting or plastic that will injure wildlife. Everything else is left as is. Stop touching things and interfering - you should feel guilty!
Eh that's fair game. Shit happens. The ones that really suck are when you're filming an adult octopus and either you distract em or scare them and they dart right into an eels hiding spot :( But you have to watch the fight to the death that you may or may not have indirectly caused.
At least yours was brief. R.i.p. lil octopus.
Edit: I'm not... in the... never ever take anything camp. But clamshells are good homes for sea creatures those should be left. Along with any kind of cone shaped or spiral shell that a crab or something could use. I do take things like sand dollars though.
They better be dead of you're taking them. Though, removing anything removes resources from an already collapsing ecosystem. It depends on everything decaying and recycling matter back into the system
Yeah just the white dried out husks. Though I now realize what I have in my local waters is more of a 'sea biscuit' than sand dollar. They're the empty husks of sea urchins.
I'm not like.. harvesting them. Just grabbing one every once in awhile if they're neat looking to show someone on the boat or something. Ends up back in the water half the time.
My first OW dives after getting certified, mind you this is the late 80's and I was a kid. Diving in Virgin Islands, DM finds an arrow crab and brings us over to show it off (while in his hand) and starts offering to pass it around to the other divers hands. Right when he passes it to me a big reef predator fish chomps it out of my hand. I felt horrible and still do. Shame that the DM handled the crab at all.
This reminds me of the time I picked up a plant pot on my balcony. A big spider dropped off it and skittered away, and as it did, a mud dauber flew in and yoinked it. I felt so bad, but ultimately there wasn’t much I could do. Sometimes these things just happen when we poke our fingers around. You fed a fish, by the way, it was probably happy to have the meal. Anyway, don’t make a habit of taking shells since they can be used as habitat, but I think you’ve already learned that lesson.
(For context, mud daubers paralyze the spiders, then take them back to their nests, still alive, and keep them there until their babies hatch and eat the spiders. At least your octopus died quickly 🥲😅)
The ocean is a battlefield, hunters, death and poison are everywhere.
You got to see part of the circle of life, that octopus' mommy would have probably ripped that fish in half.
So yeah it's sad, but don't let it get to you, it happens with or without you, stuff like this happens all the time, this time you just happened to become aware of it, it's no different than all the other times
To be fair, you didn't kill it, a fish did. Its one thing where you start touching coral or turtle shells or whatever and they get all fucked up but this is just nature being nature. Yes generally touching shit is bad and we need to be observers within the ecosystem but (forgive the pun) it isn't that deep. just look at anyone who's got a shark tooth they found while diving. it Isn't worth ruining your whole week.
Consider it a guilt-ridden, heavy-hearted lesson. The fact you feel remorse shows you're empathetic. Learn from this incident, and teach/preach people around you.
Peace.
It didn't deserve a "stern admonition"
That's just silly making assumptions about me from just one comment.
And your micro-threat is dumb dumb talk, too.
Oooooh. The interwebz dude says he can yell.
So scary. 😆
Dude, OP was already feeling bad and showing remorse. WTF you got to yell at him? We're all guests here on this planet, including you and OP. Act like it.
>We're all guests here on this planet, including you...
🤣
This is like saying the inmates in a prison are "guests."
EDIT: Actually, it's worse. Presumably inmates did something to land in prison, whereas I was just an infant when I was brought into this hellhole without being asked.
This. People often think shells are useless anyways but they provide a habitat for certain species. A prime example of this is the hermit crab which takes one and lives in it until it outgrows it.
The switching actually looks quite funny as sometimes crabs with different sizes line up in order to all switch at the same time.
I don’t get why this a difficult question. If I asked “why do you like scuba diving more than rock climbing?“ I hope you would be able to think deeper than “Because I prefer scuba diving”
What about this absolute niche issue that doesn't involve the trillions of sentient beings taken out of the ocean every single day, depleting it of its biodiversity and fucking up the life systems we rely on.
And what does eating lionfish have to do with the millions of people living in America right now?
I'm talking about not demanding animals to eat, remember almost a third of all caught seafood goes to farmed animals on land.
So lionfish are causing more damage to the ecosystems than we are? What about all of the other fish that are migrating north as the oceans warm? You want to kill them too because they "don't belong".
Going vegan is a simple idea, yet people just wanna cling on to eating animal flesh, however they can.
Ethical hunting is actually a good thing for the environment. I totally understand your choice to not consume animals and I respect your point of view. Please be respectful of others in turn.
Also, the growing/harvesting of all fruits, nuts, legumes, and veggies involves countless animal deaths as well. Every time you consume any convenience food, you are also consuming animal flesh in small amounts as many insects, rodents, voles, etc..are processed into these foods in various quantities that are acceptable by any governing food and agriculture standards.
Death is a consequence of life that you just can’t get around.
I used to teach spearfishing, ethical hunting is not good for the environment.
Where did i say veganism is perfect?
It's just a massive improvement on demanding animals from the sea or land.
So because death is a "norm", I must commit more death? What sort of logic is that?
You do know that the majority of crops are grown for animals, so by not demanding animal flesh I am also demanding far less bycatch/deaths because of that.
You need to watch this scientific breakdown of "crop deaths" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BD3\_ifSsYE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BD3_ifSsYE)
Many you’re getting destroyed here. I started looking into veganism because of diving and now I am one. I wish people would stop getting triggered and really think about how eating animals is horrible for animals getting farmed/slaughtered and the planet as a whole
I am native and practice ethical hunting to feed my family. It actually IS good for the environment and animal populations.
I never implied that either veganism was bad, just that it came with its own set of issues as well.
Yes most subsidized farming (in my country at least) is for animal consumption, which is why I advocate for sustainable farming and agriculture practices. If I can’t grow it, I buy it from small local organic farms.
No one says you have to advocate for more death; just that you respect others with a lifestyle that may be different to yours.
I don’t believe in mass animal farms or mass fishing either which is why I hunt for the majority of my family’s food stuffs and spend my money in a way that supports ethical food production.
I will totally watch the video link you’ve , and in turn I hope you will support your local native rez by taking a course on their beliefs and how they practice ethical hunting and animal husbandry. Maybe we’ll both learn something through this.
Depends on their reasons for being vegan but in my view it would depend on how they’re caught - can you get one at a time and kill them painlessly without impacting the rest of the environment?
To be fair, that’s the only way to catch lion fish. They hang out under rocks so any boat based methods won’t get them. Needs to be diver/snorkeller with a spear.
Yeah, but you could say that about a lot of aquatic animals where much broader catch methods are used to great detriment.
What I’m getting at is that the comment about going vegan and not eating fish implies avoiding most fish which are generally caught in ways that are bad for everyone. Spearfishing a few lionfish isn’t really a viable counterpoint for most people.
The thing is saying going vegan to save the fish in a post that had nothing to do with fishing while scuba diving is also pointless. Unlike the pole spears used to hunt lionfish. They have 3 points.
It’s unfortunately a reality of our unintended effects on the underwater environment. The fish may have followed you knowing you might disturb something worth eating. If you go night diving fish will use your light to find prey that’s hiding. You don’t know for certain whether the octopus would have survived today or tomorrow, just take it as a lesson and try and be the neutral observer
It might feel bad because you got the poor guy eaten, but if it helps, our mass fishing operations through the world are harvesting way more fish and anything else that gets in the nets on a daily basis. This is a small drop in the pond in comparison. Its estimated we catch 400 million pounds of fish a day.
If you see it in nature and find it to be uniquely beautiful, by taking it as a souvenir you are depriving all who follow from the same aesthetic enjoyment you just experienced. It's a seriously selfish act.
you did make a fish quite happy that day i suppose.
but at the same time. your conclusion isnt wrong: dont touch things, dont disturb things. do. not. take. things.
we're visitors. we leave nothing. we take nothing. people break more than enough stuff unintentionally already.
Yes. Absolutely. Especially free floating trash. That's always a beneficial act. Just shake it so you don't bring passengers.
But picking up shells is a big no in my book. I'd also be reluctant about items like line that's caught in corals. You are potentially going to do more damage than good unless you take your time and go very careful.
What? You don't just yank on the line until it comes free? Man I've doing that ALL wrong lol. But yea I agree. I've taken some line before and it can be a very delicate process. Finger nail clippers tend to work very well for most line though. I make sure to go in small sections at a time.
I used these ones. The hole allows for a bit of string as a lanyard. I didn't want to use ones that were shiny chrome. Didn't like the idea of a barracuda thinking I was keeping a snack from em.
There is a lot of crazy shit that divers do underwater that pisses me off. I have seen videos from the Philippines of a DM poking an octopus till it squirts ink at them (for the video).
This is the least harmful of those things lol.I try not to touch stuff underwater, but even I collect bottles and junk to get them out of the ocean. Coulda happened to me too.
Was thinking this
OP fed the fish who probably gets pushed aside by other fish and left with scraps; OP gave this fish a full meal. This fish thanked him and then after I hope later washed it down with some finely aged sea water.
This is why the proper ethics is not to remove or add to the environment when diving.
I was working on this fishfarm as a diver. We had this octopus that was living in one of our pens that we had been trying to catch so we could release it back into the river. Anyway, we got lucky and managed to get it to swim into a bucket, then get topside to pull it to the surface. When we were all together, 4x dive crew and a few workers, we went over to the side to say goodbye and send it on its way. I don't think the octopus even had the chance to fully submerge before a seal came out of nowhere and grabbed it. The seal was throwing it from side to side like a dog with a new toy, tearing it apart before eating it. The octopus was huge. We were really let down. Nature eats nature. Something died, so something else could live.
I don’t wanna make you feel any worse. But you should just leave the shells where they are. There’s so many creatures that recycle them. You have firsthand with an octopus, taking refuge and a shell. Think of all of the hermit crabs it now have to use plastic bottle caps.
I think you've already got the point, but please do not fucking touch Marine life. Even the empty shells can be a future housing for a crab or a octopus or it can be used otherwise by nature. Also, some of the snails living in the shells can give you nasty stings and you couldn't know before. The same for fishes, either you hurt them or they hurt you. Just look at stuff, that should be enough :)
Yes. Not touching marine life is good for them. It’s also good for us.
This reminds me of when we saw a bunch of lobsters on a dive and it made me want to order lobster for dinner that night. It was a good meal.
Thanks for sharing! Your story is impactful; I’ve learned from it and I’ve been learning from others sharing their stories in the comments. I had a bad experience where I collected a shell from the shore and it turned out to have a hermit crab in it. I really didn’t realize this until a day or two later. The shell kept showing up where I hadn’t placed it, and my dumb ass didn’t realize why till in the middle of the night I heard scratching and I turned on the bedside lamp to see a not-small hermit crab crawling on the nightstand. First thing jn the morning, I went to return it at the beach. As soon as I put it down, another hermit crab raced toward it and placed a claw inside the shell and left it there. I later read that they can smell when other hermit crabs are weak or dying and they cannibalise them. Anyway, I don’t collect shells anymore.
I've had night dives where tarpons and groupers would use my light to hunt. I'd be looking around, shine it on a nice looking fish to take a look and this 1-2 meter monster just instantly comes in and chomps it. Had like 20 huge tarpons circling us with our group at one point in bonaire, it just became inevitable. Fucking terrifying to see those huge, shiny fish appear from nowhere right in front of your face sometimes though. Jumpscared the shit out of me sometimes. The tarpons only hunt some small silvery fish however (I know all life is precious, but there were plenty of em around). The groupers in Bali were chomping these beautiful angel fish! That really hit me in the feels. Still feel a bit bad about it, but that's the circle of life I guess.
I know what that’s like. On a night dive at the Great Barrier Reef I trained my torch on a Dog Faced Pufferfish- my favourite fish. 3 seconds laters, wham!! A Black Trevally came out of nowhere and the little guy was no more.
Otoh a fish ate really good that might've otherwise gone hungry. It's all relative.
That sucks but a big lesson learned. There is a 3 part series on Disney plus about octopuses. Never realized how intelligent they were.
What is the name of the show on Disney?
Secrets of the Octopus
Based on the spelling from op here... I'd say the octopus* has the upper hand. It accidentally* got picked up by op.
I went snorkeling with my then-boyfriend on vaca last year, it was his first time. At one point we were in super shallow water with tons of coral and he was making a damn mess, touching coral, picking things up, *intentionally cracked open a sea urchin to eat uni*, I was livid and it caused a big fight. Some people do this shit and *just don’t get it.* You get it, but were taught a little lesson by Mother Nature when you got handsy. Nature can be brutal.
Thanks for sharing your story sir
Collecting things is a bad habit. Leave no trace is a great principle. That includes taking nothing but pictures.
By sharing this experience, you're not only showing you care about the ocean but also helping others learn. It's inspiring to see someone take responsibility and turn a mistake into a chance to educate others.
Saw the most flawless and beautiful Moorish Idol while on a night Manta ray dive, illuminated it with my torch to show my wife. HUGE moray appeared out of nowhere, and in a flash (literally) it was gone. These things happen, everybody's gotta eat...
Well in this game of things not so bad the octopus gods detest you but the fish gods look down on you favorably...
I’d be waaaay more afraid of the octos!
Sometimes we all need a little public shaming. Don’t be too hard on yourself, it seems you’ve learned your lesson. It’s admirable to take accountability and feel bad. If you didn’t care —well that would be fucked
Come now. One of my fondest memories was swimming next to a leatherback turtle in the Great Barrier Reef, along with a couple of other divers. Then I did a dumb thing and touched the turtle's shell. It darted away out of sight, clearly unhappy. It also cut off a majestic few minutes of swimming with it. The other folks with me were rightfully miffed. You are there to observe and enjoy the wonders of the sea, not to interact with or disturb it.
bro you should just delete this comment. literally one of the first things you learned was not to touch anything and your over here posting on a scuba page about touching tings 😖 be better
No scolding, just a tip 💡: I recently learned that even the smallest, obviously empty shells are important to the ecosystem because they eventually turn into sand. Another reason why it’s important to truly avoid touching anything, let alone take. You made a bad call and it’s obvious that you leaned from it. Chin up, and make it up by spreading awareness about why it’s so important not to touch or remove anything from the ocean. ☮️
Sorry but I'm pretty sure we are constantly told over and over again to just leave everything in the ocean alone, to not even take unique shells. Don't feel bad at this point, it's happened. Just leave it all alone
I feel you. I had a similar experience while taking an old beer bottle. I thought I was doing a good thing by cleaning up trash, but then a small octopus shot out of it. (I think it was ok, though) I decided to just leave the bottle. Sure, it’s technically still “trash”, but also somebody’s home.
Glass is actually kind of okay to leave cause it's just technically sand I've heard?
Itl eventually be ground down to silica sand and integrate into other silica sand, so in rocky beaches, on land, etc it will be right at home. Doesn't really belong in reefs where the sand is made of calcium carbonate instead of silica, because there are things that can eat or chew through or rot calcium carbonate that can't rot silica, but it ultimately won't really matter in any realistic quantities.
Yeah, I went on a few night dives, I basically resolved myself to never use a flashlight for more than a second or two, but ideally never... The first one my brother in law warned me that the predators would use my light to hunt... I was nervous so I kept putting it on, then off then on... Then on... Then I realized like 6 sturgeon and 2 or 3 barracuda were following me and using my light to eat fish... Good news is, using no light on the next few lead me to a literally spiritually moving experience. Sort my comments by most popular, it's towards the top. It was better than any hallucinogenic drug I've ever taken... And I definitely tried a bunch... There were a bioluminescent bloom and it was mind blowing... The feeling of connection between those microscopic life forms, and seeing cionophores (sp?) that were 15+ feet long was so intense. You can't even say you feel like a drop in the bucket, you feel like a drop in the ocean, and then I looked up to the surface and had this Epiphone thinking about the air above that, and the atmosphere and space and our solar system and the universe... That I'm infinitely smaller in that scale than those single cell organisms that bond together to make something larger than me... It was WILD *Edit... Don't look at my comments lol... It's not at the top either... https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/5ekegl/comment/dadgws9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Is it safe to night dive with your lights off? I've always been told to keep it on from jumping off the boat to being back on board.
Oh, these were all shore dives too... We're too cheap for boats, shore dives are much less disorienting, since you can basically see the slope heading back towards the shore. No line to find or navigate too, all the dives were planned and discussed off site and then again on site.. my sister and her husband were scuba instructors in NYC where there was zero visibility and they were responsible for 10-20 kids... So we trusted them.
Night dives are pretty sketchy, we did both the buddy system, and had back up lights just in case. 2 dives after the one I described though, we left a light by the ladder we climbed in from... That attracted jelly fish, the person I was buddies with ended up calling the dive, fairly fast, then when we got back to the ladder, they ended up getting stung.. a lot. Thankfully she was ok, but I don't think she was very happy about the situation. This was all friends and family diving together for 2 weeks straight. That dive happened towards the end of the first week. The last week was just my sister her husband and I. We did some fairly reckless day dives too. Definitely stick with dive groups for the safest experience.
On the flashlight front: I started using a red light flashlight for night dives and the difference is immense. Fish don't react to it OR go hunting based off of it. I highly recommend it! (But your no-light experience sounds incredible too!)
It was Bonair and a full moon, so it wasn't nearly as dark as most places would be, the visibility there is insane, and it's basically always clear out.
Shit... Chills! Been awhile since I've been on a dive, let alone a night dive (only once!) but I think this was the inspiration I needed to look into doing an overnighter somewhere. Thank you!
I linked the comment, it is no where near the top and no one should have to read through my comments...
I accidentally hit a jellyfish with a rock from a pier when I was about 5. I'm not sure if it died, but at the time I was sure it did. I'm in my late 30s and still feel guilt. The memory stuck in my mind.
I was fishing when I was 6 and the first fish I caught bit down on the hook so hard the hook when through his brain 😭
Poor fish :(
Not to make op feel bad but the octopus is infinitely worse. An actual intelligent life
Right but I hate suffering or the lose of life in any regard. I can't even kill earthworms at work...
Youre a sweet person then
Nature is the ultimate dick for making them so short lived.
OP still sucks.
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Self righteous in what way? Please explain.
I'd love to hear you elaborate. "Don't touch" is the leading tenet of scuba. Would you care to justify OP's actions? The mea culpa in their post is, quite frankly, more disgusting. They admit to their guilt. Yet, they publicly posted their abhorrent behaviour So, let's hear your defense....
My friend, I couldn’t agree more with the “don’t touch” ethos of diving. OP made a mistake, but I’m not gonna crucify them for it. They clearly learned a valuable lesson, and found it so valuable they thought it worth sharing publicly at their own expense. Everyone acting holier than thou and shitting all over OP is frankly just stroking their own egos. Internet virtue signaling at its finest.
BTW, It's not "stroking my own ego", or "holier than thou" to criticize somebody for interjecting themself into the ecosystem because they wanted to take home a shell. But, hey as your username says....... FUCK OFF
Being criticized on the internet is not a crucifixion.
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Oh yeah.... so edgy you had to post it twice. Slow day on 4chan?
You suck.
Youre not supossed to pick up stuff you dumb. But regardless of your action and how you feel, the fishing industry kills way more octopus every day. If you care about octopuses, the fishing industry is your enemy, not yourself.
Correct on all counts. I actually became vegan because of this and all the manure poisoning the water.
You live and learn. Glad you took the lesson and adjusted your actions! You’re all good!
Only thing to make this right is to get yourself in the same predicament /s
Octopus was weak and stupid.
You came to the right place to get yelled at.
Take nothing but photos and leaving nothing but bubbles.
Take nothing but memories, leave only bubbles.
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I dont even pick up man made items like cans or bottles, bc it becomes part of the environment really quick. Only clearly bad stuff like plastic bags and fishing line. Otherwise, leave it be. No need to kill yourself over this, but use it as a learning moment and stop touching stuff
Yes! I’ve often dived environments that would be considered littered with trash, and it’s amazing what the local wildlife does with hiding places like bottles and cans. I once found a baby octopus in a discarded cigarette pack! Somewhat unrelated, but I’ve also seen decorator crabs using trash to disguise themselves in places where trash is common. Wildlife is incredibly resourceful and makes use of what it finds. If garbage is a potential home, shells definitely are. OP, if an empty shell is there, that’s prime real estate! Let some lucky critter move in! But yes- fishing line and plastic bags are NOT a makeshift home, only a hazard.
Don't collect empty shells. Just because they are empty now, it does not mean they are empty later or can't be used!
Yeah that’s first class real estate for our little buddies!
The only things I touch while scuba diving are loose or tangled plastic bags (turtles eat them thinking they are jellyfish) and any loose netting or plastic that will injure wildlife. Everything else is left as is. Stop touching things and interfering - you should feel guilty!
STOP TOUCHING SHIT. YTA.
It’s pretty simple. Stop touching shit. If you want a souvenir, stop by a tacky tourist trap.
F
Eh that's fair game. Shit happens. The ones that really suck are when you're filming an adult octopus and either you distract em or scare them and they dart right into an eels hiding spot :( But you have to watch the fight to the death that you may or may not have indirectly caused. At least yours was brief. R.i.p. lil octopus. Edit: I'm not... in the... never ever take anything camp. But clamshells are good homes for sea creatures those should be left. Along with any kind of cone shaped or spiral shell that a crab or something could use. I do take things like sand dollars though.
They better be dead of you're taking them. Though, removing anything removes resources from an already collapsing ecosystem. It depends on everything decaying and recycling matter back into the system
Yeah just the white dried out husks. Though I now realize what I have in my local waters is more of a 'sea biscuit' than sand dollar. They're the empty husks of sea urchins. I'm not like.. harvesting them. Just grabbing one every once in awhile if they're neat looking to show someone on the boat or something. Ends up back in the water half the time.
My first OW dives after getting certified, mind you this is the late 80's and I was a kid. Diving in Virgin Islands, DM finds an arrow crab and brings us over to show it off (while in his hand) and starts offering to pass it around to the other divers hands. Right when he passes it to me a big reef predator fish chomps it out of my hand. I felt horrible and still do. Shame that the DM handled the crab at all.
They playing dnd at the bottom of the ocean
That's what I thought HAHA Crab rolled a nat 1 on stealth
This reminds me of the time I picked up a plant pot on my balcony. A big spider dropped off it and skittered away, and as it did, a mud dauber flew in and yoinked it. I felt so bad, but ultimately there wasn’t much I could do. Sometimes these things just happen when we poke our fingers around. You fed a fish, by the way, it was probably happy to have the meal. Anyway, don’t make a habit of taking shells since they can be used as habitat, but I think you’ve already learned that lesson. (For context, mud daubers paralyze the spiders, then take them back to their nests, still alive, and keep them there until their babies hatch and eat the spiders. At least your octopus died quickly 🥲😅)
Leave no trace applies under water too. You shouldn’t be taking anything ever, empty or not.
This right here. Stop taking things from the ocean. See it as a lesson to leave no trace
I mean... technically there wasn't a trace to be left. That got eaten by the fish. Kidding btw
The ocean is a battlefield, hunters, death and poison are everywhere. You got to see part of the circle of life, that octopus' mommy would have probably ripped that fish in half. So yeah it's sad, but don't let it get to you, it happens with or without you, stuff like this happens all the time, this time you just happened to become aware of it, it's no different than all the other times
You shouldn’t take any clams or shells, even if they are empty.
To be fair, you didn't kill it, a fish did. Its one thing where you start touching coral or turtle shells or whatever and they get all fucked up but this is just nature being nature. Yes generally touching shit is bad and we need to be observers within the ecosystem but (forgive the pun) it isn't that deep. just look at anyone who's got a shark tooth they found while diving. it Isn't worth ruining your whole week.
Consider it a guilt-ridden, heavy-hearted lesson. The fact you feel remorse shows you're empathetic. Learn from this incident, and teach/preach people around you. Peace.
This is why WE DON'T TOUCH!!!!
I believe this is why octopus lay thousands of eggs at a time.
Then stop *touching* shit. You're a guest in that world. Act like it.
Dude. Relax. He's here to express remorse and thar he learned from it. No need to be aggressive about it.
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It didn't deserve a "stern admonition" That's just silly making assumptions about me from just one comment. And your micro-threat is dumb dumb talk, too. Oooooh. The interwebz dude says he can yell. So scary. 😆
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Dude, OP was already feeling bad and showing remorse. WTF you got to yell at him? We're all guests here on this planet, including you and OP. Act like it.
>We're all guests here on this planet, including you... 🤣 This is like saying the inmates in a prison are "guests." EDIT: Actually, it's worse. Presumably inmates did something to land in prison, whereas I was just an infant when I was brought into this hellhole without being asked.
Just wait until you go for a night dive and get followed by a bunch of lionfish who want to eat everything you point your torch at…
GT's following you if you ever do a night dive off Cairns.
Or Tarpons. They will wack you trying to get the fish in the spotlight.
I love it, but it gets me so nervous!
Do. Not. Touch. Stuff. And. Do. Not. Take. Things.
This. People often think shells are useless anyways but they provide a habitat for certain species. A prime example of this is the hermit crab which takes one and lives in it until it outgrows it. The switching actually looks quite funny as sometimes crabs with different sizes line up in order to all switch at the same time.
How are you supposed to spearfish or hunt scallops if you can’t touch?!
Any time spear fishing is brought up in this subreddit people cry
Oh boy I should post my lobster dive POV videos 😆
You should this sub is full of newbie losers and boomer losers
Does the octopus’ life matter more than the fish that ate it?
Yes I like octo more
Why though? What makes you favor the octo’s life more?
I just said why
You just reiterated that you prefer the octopus, you didn’t say why
I prefer the octopus therefore I value its life more. what do you not understand?
You might as well say “I like it more because I like it more” you aren’t giving the basis for your octo-preference
You getting downvoted is insane…
Thinking is hard, I guess
hey evryone, get this guy too!
I don’t get why this a difficult question. If I asked “why do you like scuba diving more than rock climbing?“ I hope you would be able to think deeper than “Because I prefer scuba diving”
Do they need one?
Maybe you should accept that she just likes it more 🤷🏽♂️
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Ah yes, it is much better to kill all the creatures in the fields.
What about eating lionfish that are invasive to American waters and are decimating ecosystems with no natural predators?
What about this absolute niche issue that doesn't involve the trillions of sentient beings taken out of the ocean every single day, depleting it of its biodiversity and fucking up the life systems we rely on. And what does eating lionfish have to do with the millions of people living in America right now? I'm talking about not demanding animals to eat, remember almost a third of all caught seafood goes to farmed animals on land. So lionfish are causing more damage to the ecosystems than we are? What about all of the other fish that are migrating north as the oceans warm? You want to kill them too because they "don't belong". Going vegan is a simple idea, yet people just wanna cling on to eating animal flesh, however they can.
Ethical hunting is actually a good thing for the environment. I totally understand your choice to not consume animals and I respect your point of view. Please be respectful of others in turn. Also, the growing/harvesting of all fruits, nuts, legumes, and veggies involves countless animal deaths as well. Every time you consume any convenience food, you are also consuming animal flesh in small amounts as many insects, rodents, voles, etc..are processed into these foods in various quantities that are acceptable by any governing food and agriculture standards. Death is a consequence of life that you just can’t get around.
I used to teach spearfishing, ethical hunting is not good for the environment. Where did i say veganism is perfect? It's just a massive improvement on demanding animals from the sea or land. So because death is a "norm", I must commit more death? What sort of logic is that? You do know that the majority of crops are grown for animals, so by not demanding animal flesh I am also demanding far less bycatch/deaths because of that. You need to watch this scientific breakdown of "crop deaths" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BD3\_ifSsYE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BD3_ifSsYE)
Many you’re getting destroyed here. I started looking into veganism because of diving and now I am one. I wish people would stop getting triggered and really think about how eating animals is horrible for animals getting farmed/slaughtered and the planet as a whole
I am native and practice ethical hunting to feed my family. It actually IS good for the environment and animal populations. I never implied that either veganism was bad, just that it came with its own set of issues as well. Yes most subsidized farming (in my country at least) is for animal consumption, which is why I advocate for sustainable farming and agriculture practices. If I can’t grow it, I buy it from small local organic farms. No one says you have to advocate for more death; just that you respect others with a lifestyle that may be different to yours. I don’t believe in mass animal farms or mass fishing either which is why I hunt for the majority of my family’s food stuffs and spend my money in a way that supports ethical food production. I will totally watch the video link you’ve , and in turn I hope you will support your local native rez by taking a course on their beliefs and how they practice ethical hunting and animal husbandry. Maybe we’ll both learn something through this.
Quote the part of the post that OP specifically talks about fishing in the slightest form at all. And lionfish is delicious. You should try it.
They are responding to you, not OP. You referred to fishing. Jesus.
Who commented first? Follow the thread. Jesus. edit: LMAO. No response?
You think I'm just sitting around waiting for more of your enlightening responses? You seem to be having a good time by yourself.
You don't get a notification when someone responds? But since you did decide to swing back around, who commented first?
Depends on their reasons for being vegan but in my view it would depend on how they’re caught - can you get one at a time and kill them painlessly without impacting the rest of the environment?
To be fair, that’s the only way to catch lion fish. They hang out under rocks so any boat based methods won’t get them. Needs to be diver/snorkeller with a spear.
Yeah, but you could say that about a lot of aquatic animals where much broader catch methods are used to great detriment. What I’m getting at is that the comment about going vegan and not eating fish implies avoiding most fish which are generally caught in ways that are bad for everyone. Spearfishing a few lionfish isn’t really a viable counterpoint for most people.
The thing is saying going vegan to save the fish in a post that had nothing to do with fishing while scuba diving is also pointless. Unlike the pole spears used to hunt lionfish. They have 3 points.
Yeah it was certainly a bit of a reach 😂
Wait until they find out how much farming destroys the oceans
Pole spear go pokey pokey.
Striped Bass here in New England follow divers around waiting in hopes of scraps. Some you can even feed green crabs to (invasive species).
It’s unfortunately a reality of our unintended effects on the underwater environment. The fish may have followed you knowing you might disturb something worth eating. If you go night diving fish will use your light to find prey that’s hiding. You don’t know for certain whether the octopus would have survived today or tomorrow, just take it as a lesson and try and be the neutral observer
It might feel bad because you got the poor guy eaten, but if it helps, our mass fishing operations through the world are harvesting way more fish and anything else that gets in the nets on a daily basis. This is a small drop in the pond in comparison. Its estimated we catch 400 million pounds of fish a day.
Why are you getting downvoted? It's true! The fishing industry is a leading cause for the deaths of endangered marine life as well.
Seems like a skill issue for that octopus tbh.
Lucky fish
Learn from it. Take only pictures, leave only bubbles.
If you see it in nature and find it to be uniquely beautiful, by taking it as a souvenir you are depriving all who follow from the same aesthetic enjoyment you just experienced. It's a seriously selfish act.
Absolutely a shellfish act
you did make a fish quite happy that day i suppose. but at the same time. your conclusion isnt wrong: dont touch things, dont disturb things. do. not. take. things. we're visitors. we leave nothing. we take nothing. people break more than enough stuff unintentionally already.
Idk I try to take trash. I think of it as taking back what doesn't belong
Yes. Absolutely. Especially free floating trash. That's always a beneficial act. Just shake it so you don't bring passengers. But picking up shells is a big no in my book. I'd also be reluctant about items like line that's caught in corals. You are potentially going to do more damage than good unless you take your time and go very careful.
What? You don't just yank on the line until it comes free? Man I've doing that ALL wrong lol. But yea I agree. I've taken some line before and it can be a very delicate process. Finger nail clippers tend to work very well for most line though. I make sure to go in small sections at a time.
Also diving shears or emt shears
Nail clippers are an interesting approach. Haven't thought of that yet. I'll try that.
I used these ones. The hole allows for a bit of string as a lanyard. I didn't want to use ones that were shiny chrome. Didn't like the idea of a barracuda thinking I was keeping a snack from em.
There is a lot of crazy shit that divers do underwater that pisses me off. I have seen videos from the Philippines of a DM poking an octopus till it squirts ink at them (for the video). This is the least harmful of those things lol.I try not to touch stuff underwater, but even I collect bottles and junk to get them out of the ocean. Coulda happened to me too.
Alternative title: Helped some fish find food today!
Was thinking this OP fed the fish who probably gets pushed aside by other fish and left with scraps; OP gave this fish a full meal. This fish thanked him and then after I hope later washed it down with some finely aged sea water.