I would have crapped my pants
Those badboys can easily kill, luckily he was probably more scared of you. Count your lucky stars it wasn't a taipan, not even Steve Irwin would of picked them up.
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:17, 2 replies)

I'm
very careful with wildlife down here. I don't touch anything unless I'm positive I know what it is and I'm positive it can't hurt me. The amount of things that can bite you here is just ridiculous. Yo can pick up a shell on the beach and BANG! You're poisoned. You can even get poisoned by a bloody sponge! That would be a terrible way to die. Killed by a sponge. My mates would piss themselves laughing. Even the frigging ants over here can kill you if you're unlucky enough to be part of the 10 percent who are sensitive to them. Jumping ants I think they're called.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:27, closed)

I love Oz
Been there twice, had a chance to move there for good 3 years ago but I wanted to have some roots in the form of a house here, I really regret it. went to that enclosed coral near whitesands, it was a real under water disneyland (great barrier.) The dive instructer told us never to pick up anything as even harmless looking things can kill you. To compound the story he told us of a german snorkeller that had picked up a small cone shaped shell fish and put into his speedo's so he could carry it to the surface, halfway up a poison dart flew out of said shell fish straight into German tourists bollocks. the poison was so bad he had to have them removed....Ouchy but a bit funny!! Nearly as funny as the ozzy instructors delight at telling the story, they love to scare us poms don't they? haha
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 10:50, closed)

Whitesands?
That's up Hamilton Island way isn't it? I flew over it in a helicopter once. Supposed to be the softest sands in the world.

I did a bit of snorkelling up there on the Barrier Reef. Absolutely mind-blowing. Especially when a grouper swam up to me. The thing was considerably bigger than I was with the HUGE teeth. But they're friendly - this one even had a name.....

One of my best memories of Hamilton Island was on a fishing trip where the guide whistled an eagle in. No joke - he whistled really loudly and then pointed to some mountains a few miles away. We could see this huge eagle flying towards us. It hung back from the boat and we threw a big fish up which it caught in it's claws and then flew off. I got some great shots of it in action...

Happy days....
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:20, closed)

Madness Legless
You dived exactly where I did and yes it is near Hamilton, do you know what they called the grouper fish? Mick Jagger, because of the big lips thing haha!! I swam near it but it shit me up because hungry groupers, although rare, have been known to swallow people whole. Didn't get the Eagle thing though, how cool is that?!!
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:56, closed)

Queensland grouper?
Was it a queensland grouper? black and yellow? We got one of those at work, at 'baby' at 2ft long! Critically endangered apparently, and around 12ft long as adults :|
( Bathory, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:07, closed)

I think it must have been
2001 so my memory is a bit vaugue. 12ft. holy shit!

I couldn't find a live one but i am certain he was this colour -

www.bing.com/images/search?q=grouper+fish&view=detail&id=F4A0314EE65CEE0CB59982BF127051C0430824E5&FORM=IGRE2
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:14, closed)

Nah
Not a queensland. www.ladyelliot.com.au/uploads/floraFauna/Qld-Grouper.jpg there's a medium sized one. I should know the name of the red grouper mentioned, working with the lil gits and all, but alas, I have failed you all...
( Bathory, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:25, closed)

I found a list of them, there is loads so you are more than forgiven -
Black grouper Mycteroperca bonaci
Comet grouper Epinephelus morrhua
Gag grouper Mycteroperca microlepis
Giant grouper Epinephelus lanceolatus
Goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara
Miniata grouper Cephalopholis miniata
Nassau grouper Epinephelus striatus
Saddletail grouper Epinephelus daemelii
Scamp grouper AKA Broomtail grouper Mycteroperca phenax
Tiger grouper Mycteroperca tigris
Warsaw grouper Epinephelus nigritus
White grouper Epinephelus aeneus
Yellowfin grouper Myceroperca venenosa
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:34, closed)

LOL
I've been to the same spot in the Red sea a few times, mainly to catch up with my old mate Monty the morray eal. He's always there hanging around having his picture taken year after year.

There's a grouper call gordon that hung around in the gulf of mexico for a while, but I think he's in retirement in an aqarium now somewhere in Texas. He was fucking huge.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 13:48, closed)

You've never seen a helicopter! You've never even left the house! You're in a wheelchair!
And you can't swim!

How's Mrs Legless?
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:08, closed)

LOL - One of the best divemasters I ever had couldn't walk
she had no bother in the water.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 13:56, closed)

"Jumping ants I think they're called."
Jack jumpers. Aggressive little bastards. If you piss one off it will actually chase after you, trying to kill a thing thousands of times its size. And as you mentioned, they quite often succeed.
(oball needs Satan more than he needs me, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:28, closed)

Snail..
'Cigarette' snail? hehe. Ah damn I wish I'd taken a pic of the big bastard stonefish we had in at work a few weeks back. No coming back from a stab from one of those, and you poor buggers have them down at your beaches! *shudder*
( Bathory, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:35, closed)

Taipan
I'd assume he's not a few days out into the outback, which would make encountering a taipain (inland taipan, no.1 deadly snake in terms of the LD50 of the venom) near on impossible. If he walked out to one of them and got bitten, it's game over for sure.
Although I think in Aus, tigers are the no1 cause of death from snakebite - either that or they're close 2nd to browns. Snakes that is... not actual tigers!
( Bathory, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 11:34, closed)

Bite wise
I am not sure if Taipans are the most venomous (after googling, I think they are), but what makes these little buggers most dangerous, is that they are fiercely territorial, bite multiple times and have been known to chase people and they can out speed humans, most snakes will try and avoid humans as you know. They also have the costal taipan, which you're more likely to meet.

1.Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus)
2.Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis)
3.Coastal Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus)
4.Mainland Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus)
5.Peninsula or Black Tiger Snake (Notechis ater niger)
•The first five snakes and most of the snakes on the list are Australian.
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:04, closed)

Top 10
I think Aus has 9 out of the top 10 most venomous snakes based on the LD50 of venoms :| depending on who you cite as references of course. Most people view the Saw Scale viper as the worst, an African species. Mainly due to the aggressiveness, willingness to bite, frequency of envenomations (some species produce mainly 'dry' bites) proximity to people, speed of bite, lack of medical assistance in areas where bites tend to occur, and funds for treating a bite.

Thankfully Inland Taipans are quite shy and tend to live days away from civilisation :) Coastal's are the ones to watch out for - live near people and aggressive to boot, 'God' 1 - 0 Civilisation. God really does have it in for the Aussies it seems!
( Bathory, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:22, closed)

Yeah 9 out of 10 sounds right.
And sites do differ on opinions for sure, if we were going on venom alone, I suspect you're looking at some sort of sea snake, their venom is insane but they are mostly passive apparently. I agree it depends on access to treatment, if legless had been bitten by that tiger with no treatment, he would of had a 60% chance of surival -

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_snake
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:28, closed)

Actually..
Most snakebites in Oz are survivable even without anti-venom. As long as you know how to do first aid. The venom of Oz snakes isn't like things like rattlesnakes - which do a HUGE amount of tissue damage at the bite site. In Oz, as soon as you're bitten you need to pad the bite site and then wrap the site in VERY tight bandages. As most bites are to the limbs, you need to bandage, tightly, as far up as you can. Then sit or lie the fuck down and don't move for about 12 hours.

As far as I can gather, the venom affects, or is transported, by the lymph system rather than the blood stream. Bandaging tightly ( but not enough to cut off blood supply) will stop it getting to areas where it can kill you.

In other odd facts, apparently, most Oz snake-bites don't hurt much.

Disclaimer: All of the above is just what I've read and may be complete bollocks.
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 12:59, closed)

I'd say that was about 99% right
however you have to take in factors like age of victim etc, also this is good first aid and never clean the venom off with water because anti-venom will still have to be used and they will have to identify the snake venom, without anti venom there is always a chance you could die. Treatment straight away could stop all the shit, so your spot on.

Found this about a guy that was bitten by a Browns -

Remember the man who was bitten by the Brown snake while climbing the cliffs at the rock pool? First he chased, caught and killed the snake. Then he swam back across the rock pool. He and his friends did not treat the bite at all, instead they all walked back to the car together, a walk involving 170 stairs! From there it was a 20 minute drive to the hospital.

By rights he should be dead. He very nearly was by the time they arrived at the hospital. His health was seriously affected, it took many weeks for him to fully recover. Correct initial treatment and behaviour probably would have avoided any symptoms and after effects altogether. Actually, it would have avoided the bite in the first place!

Well, as I said, he was back drinking at the pub two days later. Dumb luck. Don't you count on it!
(bROKEN aRROW PUA HVI Master, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 14:35, closed)

Correct!.. coming from a venom-nerd. Have a gold star!
Most aussie snakes are elapids, so have mostly neurotoxin venoms - hits you where it hurts, shuts down your brain and paralyses you until you either have a heart attack or suffocate - basically complete respiratory failure. Doesn't take long either, it's all over and done with in 12 hours or so. Due to lack of tissue-damaging toxins (cytotoxins) in Aussie snake venom, yes, they very rarely hurt and have minimal swelling beyond what you'd expect from a puncture wound.

Rattlers are vipers and tend to have haemotoxic/cytotoxic venoms, which cause major swelling, hemorrhaging, heart attack, and tissue death. Mainly in your organs such as liver, lungs and heart, and it HURTS. It usually kills you from internal bleeding or organ failure. Thus, pressure bandaging the area is bad for these kinds of snakes, as you're just going to cause even more severe damage to the area affected. The more painful the bite, the more cytotoxin it contains. Tends to be long slow and painful too... can take up to 3 days to kill you. Even if you do survive it, you've still got to find a doctor who's experienced in snakebite treatment. You could end up with some eejit who's first idea of treatment is to cut off the affected limb (still happens A LOT in the States) due to compartment syndrome, or to fillet open the limb to relieve the pressure. You just got to damn hope you get a good doctor if you want your life back after a serious viper bite!

However, venom composition still varies between snakes - you could be uber unlucky and have a nice 50/50 mix of the two main types!
( Bathory, Mon 7 Feb 2011, 16:28, closed)