Justino vs The Triggerfish
Click to viewActually this entry should be titled "Kathy vs The Triggerfish" since it is she who stumbled across one. A Titan Triggerfish is a normally harmless fish until it lays eggs. Once the eggs are in place the triggerfish goes about attacking anything that comes too close. They cant kill you, but they can dish out really nasty bites.
I was diving with another couple (Drew and Kathy) and Kathy stumbled across are really pissed off triggerfish. Our dive guide, Jr, got between them and tried to get everyone out of its territory.
In typical Justino fashion I was zoning out/checking out some fish and didn't notice any of this. Finally I look over and all I can see is Jr waving his DM probe wildly in the air and Drew and Kathy beating a strategic retreat. I obliviously go over to Jr, quite unsure about this new addition to the underwater sign language that divers use to communicate.
Finally I notice a strange looking fish. It didnt look strange, it was acting strange. Instead of tenatively interacting with the world like most fish, this one was acting with purpose, not entirely unlike a dog that is trying to run something off. I should point out that I had no idea what triggerfish look like.
Finally Jr signals to me with his hand making a motion like you are shooting a gun, or pulling a trigger. My mind sluggishly made out the math and a lightbulb went off.
"Ah %$#@..."
At that point I look at the triggerfish and the triggerfish looks at me and charges. I decided that it would be much wiser to be somewhere else and chose the better part of valor. For some reason the fish was aggro'ed on me and followed for bit. Fortunately everyonoe made it out in one piece and I learned a very import lesson about what Triggerfish look like.