Scared of deep water fish!

[Bioworldmaker]

Am I the only one who is scared of large fish?

Last time I went swimming on the river, there was this HUGE fish that went just underneath my yellow floater and scared the heck out of me - it was just like in JAWS in my head, I even heard the theme song and all...
Now I am scared of swimming in any kind of water (well, swimming pools are OK but lakes, rivers, ocean... yu!) because I am affraid of the fish. Silly, I know...

Large fish now freak me out... Does anyone else have large-fish-o-phobia and knows how to cure it? LOL

 

[mr_tee0419]

They say the best way to cure phobias is to gradually place yourself around your phobia until the fear disappears. Not too sure how that could be accomplished though.... sea world?

 

[shawmutt]

I don't want to be in the water with anything bigger than me. I used to be afraid of the ocean, but three years ago I went to the Outer Banks in NC, grabbed a body board, and just jumped into the ocean. Now when I go to the beach I can't be dragged out of the water no matter how cold it is--and I go every year. One time I was bodyboarding about 100 yards offshore, and a pod of dolphins approached me. I was like "awesome! this will be so cool!" I must admit, when they came within ten feet of me, I started getting a bit nervous--THE THINGS ARE HUGE!!! It was uneventful, as they quickly moved on, but I couldn't stay out there any longer. All I kept thinking about was the huge fish I couldn't see 8O. That fear lasted all of an hour, when I saw some great surf I was right back in the water.

I guess I got over my fear by just diving in. What's the worst that could happen? There's very few attacks on humans, and only a few of those are fatal. How cool would a nice shark-bite scar look? Now, in Cali, I would definitely have a problem with body boarding, given all those pesky great whites. I'd probably wuss out and get a kayak--they could knaw on that instead of on me.

 

[TankGirl]

As a scuba diver I can't say I share the fear of the fish - and once when sailing in Florida Bay our small sailboat was joined by a large group of dolphin, so I grabbed a line and a mask and snorkel and jumped in the water, holding onto the line since the boat was still cruising, and the dolphin came up to me, diving underneath me and jumping, and they were the coolest! The racket they make is unbelievable, so if you are ever in the water with them put your head underwater and listen to their chatter - remarkable. We went like that for a while - they are very friendly - and it has to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life, no doubt.

 

[Menagerie]

I don't like standing water. I have an unfounded fear that I will be attacked (well, I was once nipped by a crab). I used to go in the ocean and river all the time. Now you have to drag me to the beach, but I will not go in the water. I don't go in pools, I will not take a bath and a couple of years ago a guy tried to impress me by saying he had a hot tub~standing water--No thank you!

PS Finding Nemo scared the crud our of me. Plus I bought my finace the Living World Deep Blue Seas (whatever it's called from the Discovery Channel)--I can't watch it, I keep expecting a Killer Whale to come out of no where and eat what ever is being filmed.

 

[Bioworldmaker]

They say the best way to cure phobias is to gradually place yourself around your phobia until the fear disappears. Not too sure how that could be accomplished though.... sea world?

I don't think they would let me swimm in their tanks LOL
That would be scary!

 

[Bioworldmaker]

. All I kept thinking about was the huge fish I couldn't see 8O.

Yep, that is exactly it... I get freaked out that they may just decide to bite me to see if I am food... Well, I guess small fish can be just as bad, piranhas for instance. In Brazil when cattle gets moved from one field to another and there is a river in the middle, the farmer just slice out one of the cows (like the weakest) and sends it first in the river. The cow is gone in no time! In the meantime he crosses really fast with the other cows.
Ouch!

 

[TankGirl]

Another snorkeling story! (collective groan, I know...)

I was with my former BF and we decided to snorkel right in Palm Beach inlet (pretty dumb) and he got out of the boat and into the water with his mask and snorkel and motored on away towards the rocks. I put my mask and snorkel on and jumped in, and opened my eyes to see that I was in the middle of a huge school of barracuda! I was very afraid of them just from their reputation, but I am extremely competitive and there was no way I was going to get back in the boat if the BF was not bothered by them, so I swallowed my fear and just swam on through them. They could have cared less about me, as they would much prefer to eat fish. There was no problem at all, and that cured me of a lot of my fears of large predatory fish. A black tip shark did run me out of the water and onto the rocks once in the Bahamas, but nobody was looking...

 

[madasafish]

I found that the best way to not be scared about large fish was to become familiar with the fish in the areas where I swim. When I swim in a lake, I no longer worry about anything biting me, as I know that all the fish there would very seldom risk taking on an adversary of human proportions. I guess reading up on the net, and in books helped me get comfortable.

Sharks I approach with a little more trepidation... When scuba diving or snorkeling, I'm pretty careful to avoid areas where they hang out.

I did once take a trip to the Caribbean, and snorkeled around an island there by myself. The island was only populated on one side, and I got 1/3 of the way around the island before I realized I was being eyed by a 5-foot barracuda. I booked it out of there. That really freaked me out.

 

[madasafish]

Oh, and if you really want to be freaked out by some "deep-water" fish, then check out the Ceratioid Anglerfish. I dissected one of these a couple of months ago. Rad...

http://www.sdnhm.org/kids/lightsalive/images/Melanocetus.jpg

But don't worry. These guys live miles down in the ocean, and never come up.

 

[Bioworldmaker]

Oh, and if you really want to be freaked out by some "deep-water" fish, then check out the Ceratioid Anglerfish. I dissected one of these a couple of months ago. Rad...

Yucks! I guess that will keep me away from the ocean for a while - LOL
That is the problem with watching too much Discovery Channel, they always have those shows with the deep-sea creatures that are so wacko like a nightmare... Good thing they can't take on the pressure change when they come up... Hehe!