TERROR IN THE DEEP: Alabama diver left screaming in pain after bite from triggerfish with 'human' teeth
ALABAMA, TEXAS: Alex Pikul, an Alabama man, was confronted with a terrifying reality while diving off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Pikul, 31, was enjoying a dive when he was bitten on the leg by a triggerfish with sharp teeth.
On a three-week group trip in September, Pikul accidentally swam over a clutch of triggerfish after being thrown off course by a strong current. A male triggerfish lunged at the group as they passed, biting Pikul's leg and leaving him with pain in his leg. "I ( thought I was ) in the clear because the triggerfish swam off so I turned around and swam away following the rest of the group, but all of a sudden it chomped on my leg," Pikul said, according to Dailystar. "The way I felt it, I thought it probably broke skin and I would be bleeding - you can hear me shout out some cuss words underwater." Pikul, who has been diving since 2020, was able to witness the triggerfish's violent attack because the attack was caught on camera.
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Pikul admitted that the attack looks fairly humorous. He said, "I've seen triggerfish before but when I saw the video of it coming back, I thought it was hilarious. You never really get that close of a shot of what their teeth look like," according to New York Post. He stated that the fish has "a face only a mother could love" and has "goofy, ugly-looking fish" teeth, which adds to the absurdity of the situation.
Pikul said, "They look too big for his mouth, almost like he’s got dentures or something." Despite the fish biting his calf and leaving a mark in the shape of its teeth, the avid diver claimed he doesn't blame the fish as it was solely protecting its eggs.
Pikul said, "Triggerfish are very territorial and there's normally two of them — the mom will stay on the bottom where the eggs are and then the male triggerfish guard the space above the eggs up to the surface. The fish was just doing what it was supposed to do and being defensive of its kids."
Pikul claimed that despite his bump and the ruckus, for many people it was the best dive of the journey. "It was so challenging and it was also a really beautiful dive. It was along a walled drop-off where the gulf is meeting the peninsula, so there were a lot of big fish coming in, out following that current, and huge schools of red snappers," he stated.