This summer, a female otter off the coast of Monterey, California, is harassing wakeboarders and surfers, stealing and sometimes destroying their boards. It’s gotten so bad that a wildlife crew is trying to capture her. Her “cuteness” becomes mildly terrifying in this video, where she charges at a man in a wetsuit. But sea otter “841″, as she’s now called, is not the only animal threat to those who enjoy being on the water…and not the most dangerous by far.
It’s a good reminder that mariners should be mindful of animal threats. Here are the top five, as determined by OceanGrafix, a producer of NOAA print-on-demand nautical charts:
1. Blue-ringed octopus
While only the size of a golf ball, this creature has venom that is 1,000 times more powerful than cyanide. One blue-ringed octopus can kill 26 people within minutes. Watch for them from the Sea of Japan to southern Australia and the Philippines. They hang out in intertidal flats where people come to snorkel.
2. Stonefish
If you’re swimming, you’ll find it hard to tell a stonefish from the stone on which it perches. Yet it’s the most venomous fish of the sea. Stings from touching one of 13 of its spines result in terrible pain, swelling, tissue necrosis and even death. While these killers were first mostly seen from India to Australia, they’ve migrated to the Caribbean Sea and even to the waters of the Florida Keys. Another common fish, the pufferfish, is one of the most toxic fish in the world (and a delicacy in Japan). Pufferfish are common off the coast of the U.S., South America, Japan and India.
3. Sperm whales
You don’t even have to get in the water to be subject to the wrath of a sperm whale. They’ve been known to ram both wooden and steel boats, fishing boats and pleasure craft. The attackers usually are juveniles, which is why mature whales often have scars across their bodies. Some breach the top of boats, some ram into the sidewall and others have been known to play tug-of-war with the anchor. Sperm whales are found in all oceans.
4. Sharks
If one of your boating objectives is to scuba dive, sharks are a real and present danger. Don’t believe the myth that sharks are harmless! Sharks often confuse humans for food, thinking they are sea lions. Twelve species are opportunistic feeders and will go for low-hanging fruit, which could be someone sitting on a boat and not even in the water. Forget outrunning a shark: they travel 25 miles an hour and can clear a four-foot hull.
5. Stingrays
Closer to home, the common stingray is exploding in population in Southern California. They love to hang around in low-tide areas and can be seen in marinas. While not aggressive by nature, if they feel threatened, they will sting. (You may remember that in 2006, TV personality Steve Irwin died from a stingray sting.) Stingrays are an old species, surviving for 150 million years, which is longer than dinosaurs. Aquariums remove their poisonous spines before they release them to petting ponds, so don’t be fooled.
Animals must beware of boaters, too!
While sea animals can be deadly to boaters, it works the other way around, too. Populations of sea turtles, dolphins and manatees have been decimated by boat strikes. In good news, efforts by conservationists to educate boaters have enabled the manatee population in South Florida to rebound to 7,520 animals today.
Of course, the goal is peaceful coexistence. After all, thousands of sea creatures pose no threat to boaters and add to the joy and mystique of the experience.
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