In November, Randy Jordan, who runs Jupiter Dive
Center in Florida, was leading a group through a local underwater
cavern, when he spotted a large porcupine puffer fish in
a hole. He figured he'd coax the little guy to show his divers.
First he stroked the fish's head with one Kevlar-gloved finger.
The puffer stayed put. So he waggled his fingers in front
of the puffer's face, doing his best imitation of food (porcupine
puffers usually feed on shrimp and smaller fish). "My
hope was to entice him to come out and play," Jordan says on
his shop's website (www.jupiterdivecenter.com). "That is when
he launched forward and got hold of my pinkie. Playtime
over! Man that hurt. This cute little fish has teeth like a parrotfish
and the ability to crush shells if necessary -- I was in pain,
but relieved that my glove wasn't cut."
However, when Jordan took the glove off underwater, he
realized that half his finger was still in the glove. "The stump
that extended from my hand was clouding the water with
green smoke. It was so thick I couldn't see my hand. I grabbed
the base of my finger to attempt to stop the blood cloud and
was shocked to see the damage inflicted."
At the emergency room, Jordan recalls, "the guffaws were
endless." Most people aren't aware that the normally shy
puffers even have teeth, but this one did enough bone damage
that they couldn't reattach the severed fingertip. Randy
underwent plastic surgery to close off the stump and was back
in the water 10 days later, a humbler diver.
Though he has always cautioned his customers not to
touch fish and has spoken out against the practice of shark
feeding (which he feels creates a Pavlovian response toward
humans and their boats), Jordan overlooked his own warnings
in this case and paid quite a price. He told Undercurrent he now
realizes that "touching fish is not good for them and may not
be good for you. All fish will do what they need to do to
defend themselves."