Ugliest, meanest fish in the world

[northwestdiverdan]

I had an encounter this past weekend with what must be the meanest, baddest cabezon in all of Puget Sound. This fish, whom I named "One-Eyed Jack" lives just north of the Paul Christie Memorial on Jetty Way at Edmonds Underwater Park. He appeared from nowhere and attacked--- without warning or provocation. I don't normally touch or molest wildlife that I photograph, but I had to punch this guy in the head several times to get him to back off. I was so busy fending off attacks that I didn't notice that my assailant had only one eye. Obviously this guy's pugnacious qualities had extracted a toll previous to our meeting.

One Eyed Jack


a slightly less aggressive Cabezon


A really nasty Lingcod out at the perimeter rope.


Approach with caution!

[seekncritters]

Yikes! One-Eyed Jack is pretty freaky looking! Was he guarding eggs? I actually find the lingcod a bit more freaky-looking, especially if you stare at the photo for a few seconds .

Good to hear you returned from your dive in one piece! Thanks for sharing the story and photos.

-Dana

[northwestdiverdan]

Yikes! One-Eyed Jack is pretty freaky looking! Was he guarding eggs? I actually find the lingcod a bit more freaky-looking, especially if you stare at the photo for a few seconds .

Good to hear you returned from your dive in one piece! Thanks for sharing the story and photos.

-Dana

Thanks!
Yeah, the cabezon are all sitting on egg masses this time of year here. They have various degrees of nastiness, this fellow charged me from over 20 feet away.

The lingcod does look quite intent menacing with that stare-of-death look. Here's another photo of him as he passed me.

[Hintermann]

I would have thought that the stonefish must easily win the 'ugliest, meanest' title without batting an eyelid - if it had an eyelid. Not only is it ugly, it blends with the surroundings so well that you don't often see it until you are almost on top of it. It has a nasty venom to boot.

[nwscubamom]

The Cabezon that live in Edmonds underwater park are absolutely hands down some of the most aggressive fish ever. They've been acclimatized to divers and I swear they teach their young how to attack divers. I have seen plenty of Cabbies in the 'wild' and they don't act this way. Just the EUP ones. I've gotten chased, harassed, head butted, bashed etc. many times. In fact, we call it "Cabbie Bashing" because it's so common.

The Lings aren't any more pleasant either - and they will bite! (Cabbies just seem to head butt)

Nice captures of their personalities, Dan!

- Janna