Attacked By Titan Trigger-fish

by Yeoh Chee Weng
(Malaysia)

Got back at 1.30am. from an exciting dive trip to Pulau Dayang (Malaysia) today - 15th March 2010.

On Sat. (13th March) during our first dive at 7.30am. my partner and I were attacked by a large titan trigger-fish (more than 1-ft. long and 8-in. body width when we inadvertently stumbled on it's nest. We were then chased in turn for a scary 6 mins. My partner was bitten on the shin when he lost one of his fins as he struggled to swim away. Worse still, due to the poor visibility of 5m. he swam too close to the rocks and suffered many lacerations on both his legs when he ascended and was swept against the barnacles by the strong surf. He also lost his mask on the surface.

I was fortunate that I suffered no injury other than gasping for air at several tense moments when I thought the trigger-fish was gaining on me. I had a previous close encounter with another trigger-fish attack at Pulau Lang Tengah four years ago but never had I met such a ferocious and tenacious rascal who kept at me for more than 2 mins. This is one dive that I would never forget.

(Data uploaded to my notebook from dive-computer showed that the encounter occurred at about 10min. after descend. Total time at bottom was 19 mins. Safety stop-time was 3 mins. so the entire chase took 6 mins.)

Another incident on the same day happened during the night dive when an "ikan todak" (swordfish) speared a young Singaporean diver on the shoulder when he was on the surface after completing his dive. The fish was attracted by his torchlight. He bled for more than an hour from a deep wound before his buddies finally stopped the bleeding.

Attached is a file photo of a Titan Triggerfish, photo was taken by another diver at a different site.