Dangerous marine animals.

Tales of dangerous marine animals have flourished, entwining history, legend and imagination. Man is now demonstrating his remarkable adaptability in returning to the aquatic environment, from which he had his origins, and factual knowledge of marine creatures is surplanting mystery, folklore and fear. There is still cause to fear certain aspects of the underwater world, and the one aspect that still holds sway over public interest is that of dangerous marine animals. There is little justification for this top priority. The kelp beds of San Diego will claim more diving victims than all the marine animals around the United States of America. The cold seas off the English coastline, the tidal currents of Hawaii and the multitude of drowning accidents in water caves of Florida and Australia belittle the relatively few fatalities caused by marine animals. Nevertheless, the latter do cause injury and death, especially in the tropical, subtropical and temperate regions. The Indo-Pacific area seems particularly well endowed with a variety of potentially lethal species, and some of these will be dealt with in this paper.