Puffed up Puffers?

Not trying to cast dispersions on anyone, but in several sites recently I have seen images of "Puffed up Puffers"

Has anyone who dives a lot ever seen a puffed up puffer that wasn't caused by man? I was told by a naturalist in Hawaii, and have taken it to heart that when puffer expands it it very straining on them, and makes them very vulnerable afterwards. We, as ecology minded divers, should never do anything to a puffer to stress it to the point of "puffing".

I don't dive much, so I am not in a position to say, but I cna never rember seeing a puffer expanded in my life?

Not sure what is meant by "vulnerable," but puffers are some of the hardiest creatures in the sea & I've seen them in heavily fished areas of Hawaii with a row of hooks in their mouth, still eating happily away...

While aggravation is never a good term, I think that there are a lot greater concerns dealing with photography than someone poking a puffer.

The issue of puffing puffers has been debated for quite some time. There is no scientific evidence indicating that a puffed puffer is more likely to die or only has so many puffs in a lifetime. It's unlikely that it has any memory of the event after more than about 4 seconds.

That said, it's politically incorrect these days to puff puffers. I have an awesome shot of a puffed puffer. I didn't puff him, but I did take the shot. I don't show it much because I get plenty of grief from some veegan PETA member, or worse, some carnivore/ichtivore. Don't puff the puffer, but can I put a stethoscope up to the boiling pan of water so I can hear the live lobster scream in agony? Don't puff the puffer, but eating fugu is OK. Photo contests now have rules against images showing divers "stressing" aquatic life and specifically mention puffed puffers.

Yes, I've seen puffed puffers not puffed by divers. Groupers are known to play basketball with puffers, if they happen to enter their lair.

I photographed these puffers fighting in Grand Cayman last month with my D100. OK tobies don't puff up a lot, but these were puffed as a result of intra-specific aggression.

That said I agrre that the UW photo community is correct to voice their concerns about images that aren't environmentally friendly. In some circles UW photographers have a bad rep for damaging the marine environment more than the average diver and it is important that we make sure this reputation doesn't stick.

Alex

Greetings from Jakarta...

Yep,

It's usually diveguides that 'Puff' them up for guests! Sad thing is after several such expansions the puffer cannot revert to its slender state and its destiny is to swim around like a well abused fart cushion. It does not necessarily die because of the expansion, but it surely does make life very difficult afterwards...

Pierre's Avatar always pisses me off for this reason.

Thanks for bringing it up Bob