Marineland of the pacific - A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer - page 25

A PAINFUL LESSON
I learned a great deal about the identification and relationships of fishes
during Dr. Boyd Walker's intensive UCLA course in ichthyology. But
there's something seriously lacking when all you see is the grotesque
dead body of a pickled study specimen. Swimming with fish in their
own world, collecting them, and keeping them in an aquarium envi-
ronment are the ways to really understand these creatures.
For example, the California scorpionfish relies on potent venom in
its spines for protection. Sedentary in their habits, these slow swimmers—
when they do get up and move—are extremely easy to catch. Because
of the ease with which they can be caught, there is a tendency to take
them for granted. That can be a painful mistake.
In 1962 John Prescott and I were on a diving trip on board
Marineland's collecting boat Geronimo to Santa Barbara Island o¤shore.
We were diving in a kelp bed on the lee side of the island to collect
kelp forest fishes and invertebrates. I hand-netted a nice large scor-
pionfish, and partly because of the strong surge I barely pricked my
finger on one of its spines as I transferred it to John's net bag. It hurt,
but not enough to make me want to quit the dive. When we were
almost out of air we started swimming back to the boat against the
current.
Swimming hard, John accidentally kicked the net bag that was trail-
ing by his feet. His vigorous kick drove the scorpionfish's dorsal spines
through his wet suit deep into the instep of his foot. The pain was in-
stant and severe, but somehow he managed to make it back to the boat.
Now the dive trip was definitely over. John's pain was intense, and he
su¤ered agonies on the long trip back to San Pedro.
At the time we didn't know the remedy for scorpionfish venom.
Through ignorance, we treated John's wounds with ice—exactly the
wrong thing to do, we later found out, and it no doubt made John
su¤er more. We eventually learned that the most e¤ective treatment
is to immerse the wound in very hot water. Heat denatures the toxin,
and the worst of the pain disappears almost immediately. John's ordeal
was a dramatic demonstration of the e¤ectiveness of intense pain as a
defense. Few predators will mess with a scorpionfish more than once.