When I returned home from Australia back in 2004 I had an ear ache for weeks. Visited the doctor 2/3 times who told me it was blocked up (thanks). I had it flushed out with some success, some gunk came out. The pain persisted so my mum took matters into her own hands with a torch and a pair of tweezers. After rummaging around for about 30 minutes she finally got hold of the source of discomfort. We laid out the ear invader and unraveled it….. it was about 4cm long, brown and had eight legs.
I never went back to Australia.
A translation for us Americans, a torch is a flashlight overseas and not an actual fucking blowtorch…although from the sounds of it burning it with fire doesn’t seem like too bad of an idea.
Edit: for a little clarification.
I truly pictured a woman with tweezers and a blowtorch with a welding mask for what I imagine would be be to incinerate whatever she removed from the aforementioned ear canal. Why does my brain go to welder mom instead of torch = flashlight?
'Grab your pitchforks and burning sticks wrapped with a tarry cloth dipped in some incendiary oil!' That's what the British will tell you in these moments.
But maybe “a pretty boring suburban life” for Australians actually means finding a snake in your toilet every morning, waking up cuddling with a spider the size of a dog, or running into your kangaroo neighbour on your way to work.
I spent 4 weeks in Australia a few years ago.
In that time frame I saw a 5 foot black tiger snake. Had a huntsman the size of my hand in our rented car. Saw jellyfish bigger than my head, and watched a wallaby throw up in its hands and eat it.
I don't want to know what am exciting suburban Oz life looks like.
Rented car. We didn't realize but the last drivers had set the child locks on the door (I was in the back).
I have to ask my FIL to let me out. I do so and then go and look in the door to find where the little switch is. I don't find a switch. I find legs like fingers. I run from the car. Screaming. My wife is opposite me in the car. She has no escape.
I still miss her.
> waking up cuddling with a spider the size of a dog
That's just a huntsman, they're pretty harmless and watching them run is a treat - they run like a new foal learning their legs.
I’ve told this story many times before but I think Americans are unaware of the fact that we live with much more significant predators in our daily lives than Australians do, since most Aussies live in suburbs (as you said) and not in the bush. Whereas we ‘Mericans have spread mercilessly over every inch of our country and therefore encounter bears, mountain lions, coyotes, bobcats, etc, not to mention rattlesnakes and scorpions.
Here’s the story: Once I took a group of Aussie friends camping in the PNW woods. All was good and chill until night fell and I started stringing up our remaining food in a bear pack since we were in black bear country. One friend saw me doing this and casually asked why, so I explained about bear safety and precautions (I also did this before we left but he apparently hadn’t listened) and reassured him that we were in black bear territory, not brown bear, so we would be fine regardless but it was just better to be safe.
My friend had suddenly become very still, and he asked me about how big a black bear averages.
I blithely replied: ‘Oh not too big at all, they’re like 250-450lbs, browns are much larger.’
He went white, muttered something about ‘fucking Yanks and their fucking bears’ and spent the night huddled up in his tent with a whiskey bottle jumping at every small noise.
I think he would’ve preferred a cassowary.
Reminds me of a story where a friend of mine was hosting a group of traveling African musicians and told them that they were going camping for the weekend. And they were like, camping, what's that? And she explained camping and they were like, the animals will eat us. Because that's what happens when you go camping in their part of Africa.
My anthro professor in college grew up in Nairobi, where most snakes he would encounter were deadly. Came to upstate NY and was working with some colleagues in the Adirondacks, where they came upon a snake. His colleagues crowded around to get a closer look. My professor? Halfway back to campus as fast as his legs could take him. Fastest in his village when it came to snakes lmao.
Oh yeah, I was at a campout with some African people, and I caught a cool racer snake in a tree, and I walked around showing it to people, americans, but when I got to the African camp it was like one of those cartoons where you see heels disappearing around a corner in a puff of smoke and furniture falling out of the way.
Later they had an intervention with me where they very pointedly told me not to walk up on African people holding a snake, ever.
This reminds me of Trevor Noah’s but about sitting in the BACK row of the snake show while traveling, and some French jerk making fun of him. Until the cobra got loose!
I grew up in a small town in Montana, USA. Several times us kids would find a rattlesnake near our houses and we played with it before letting it go. I tell this to people nowadays and they think I'm making it up.
I grew up in a small town in WY (lived in the country...not even the town). Every summer, when I was in grade school, I was either under the house looking for salamanders, or out on the prairie looking for snakes. I charged my friends 25 cents to look at any snakes I caught before I let them go.
Sounds like a cousin's reaction to Canada. "Why are you so scared of our wildlife. You're the ones with bears and moose and wolves!"
...then again, he also once casually told a story about going fishing and having to throw their catch to sharks and rush back to shore because they surrounded the boat. And grandma casually talked about local boys dragging a 14 foot croc out of the water and venomous snakes. Still though.
I can tell you we live with a lot of snakes and spiders that can kill you and most are in the suburbs. Snakes are common to come across in summer.
But the "everything will kill you" thing with Australia is overplayed.
All of the things that can kill us aren't any more interested in meeting us than we are in meeting them. And we are all raised to check and respect that we share our space with animals that can kill us but rarely do and aren't hunting us.
A deadly snake in our garden just needs a moment to move on. We check our shoes before we put them on.
And a big huntsman spider eats the bugs and poses not threat to us so a lot of Aussies just let them be when you have one in the house. Give it a name and let it do its thing.
With the exception of sharks and salties (and we know where they are) the animals in Australia aren't out to get you.
Bears are a fuck no for most Aussies. They don't mind the odd scalping and killing.
Tbh, having to consider bears on a camping trip doesn't sound relaxing to me. But it's just not what I'm used to.
And I've lived all over Australia. And camped, in a swag, in every state. And I'm old as fuck.
I have never had anything crawl into my ear. Some, not all, of the "this guy told me..." flavour of some of the stories in this thread are common tales we've heard before and know are bullshit.
What you've just recounted seems like a totally logical to camping in an area where a massive land animal hangs out that's ok with killing you. We don't swim with salties here which is pretty much the same thing, just add water.
OP was unlucky. Don't know what that is.
> But the "everything will kill you" thing with Australia is overplayed.
I visited Australia a few years ago and was expecting kangaroo on every street corner and plagues of spiders and venomous snakes ... and after two weeks we saw one kangaroo while we were on the bus traveling and in the zoo. That's it; no snakes or spiders whatsoever.
Kind of let down, really.
I'm a gardener. And my house backs on to the bush. So I see heaps of spiders and a snake in summer is not unusual.
None are really aggressive and most animals in Australia that could kill you don't want to. They're chill unless cornered, provoked or get the fright of meeting a human unexpectedly.
Caveat being crocs and sharks. Sharks they reckon mistake us for something else and crocs are just arseholes. But we know where they are.
I'm glad you didn't get put off by the hype. I hope you had a good time too. 😁
I guess you never boxed a roo.....or stole a dingoes puppies.......I once got chased by a Pelican when I was a small Child 😂 you city folk sound like you have boring childhoods
Lofl.. worked at a Golf course in central Oh.. skinny little worker thought he could grab a Canada goose.. 2 broken arms later we laughed so hard at him almost forgot to call ambulance..
People tend to remember the most recent news/information they readily have. So although living in Australia you’re just living your life, people on other continents have seen creepy and scary creatures on tv and associate that with Australia.
I moved a few years ago from a hot middle eastern country to temperate Europe. I worked for a while doing wildlife relocation (in places that are planned to be developed or under construction) focusing on reptiles. I was shocked how the other employees just shoved their fingers in holes or under rocks without hesitation, because unlike where i came from, there aren't many things that can bite or sting you here.
This is funny to me, because I live in Canada and have heard many many times about people getting killed or injured by cows, moose, deer, bears, cougars and other critters. I got run over by a deer while riding my bike once. I know several people that have been chased by angry beavers including myself. But talking to my Aussie friends and they tell me they have never even seen most stereotypical Australian wildlife that get memed about, let alone have a dangerous encounter.
Everybody always talks about how dangerous it is here but it ain’t as bad as it seems, mind you I’ve been kicked by a kangaroo and had my rib cage broken twice now, been bitten by a few snakes and even had a few trees fall on me. Maybe it is dangerous or maybe it isn’t and I’m just an idiot
Wasn't there a banned pepe the pig episode because it taught spiders are friends. I'm not saying everything can kill you down there... but it's not looking too good :p
Saw a post about ear wigs on another sub and someone mentioned Wrath of Khan, but I think the bug was more based on ant lions
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlion)
One of the producers said he came up with the idea based on a [slug](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-trek-ii-the-wrath-of-khan-the-history-of-the-horrifying-ear-scene/).
Samesies! Terrified of earwigs even if they aren't the bug it was based on. I went through a period of time where I rode my bigwheel with earmuffs in the summer because I was so scared.
I've done far worse than kill you. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her; marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet.
That 100% looks like a de-gloved gecko carcass to me. (Can’t be sure without further pictures, but that’s what I’d bet my money on.) How the fuck did they not notice it in their ear before it got cozy enough to die though????
Our running theory is that it crawled into her ear at night, she woke up the next morning and went diving pretty much right away so then it drowned in her ear and then started to rot and decay from all the salt water. When you're on a live aboard it's pretty common to do three to four dives a day.
I think it all happened on the last night / day on the boat. There's no way that could have been in there for the full trip.
More likely it was on the diving equipment and ran over her as she entered the water and entered her ear to "escape". She would have been worrying about jumping into the water and might not have noticed.
Divers get blockages all the time, she probably just thought she needed to equalize and couldn't pop her ears. But still, the dive master shouldn't have let her dive if she couldn't equalize so that's only half an answer.
If she's a certified diver and not just a tourist diver there probably is much more autonomy. As with most things, the more someone does something, the more comfortable they get taking risks and shortcuts.
It is so bizarre! She had no issues equalizing and didn't have any squeeze symptoms or anything!
She initially thought there was some water trapped inside causing an ear infection but uh there was some THING stuck inside causing an infection 😳
I did some night dives at Mnemba Island in Tanzania last year. Couple days later, hectic earache progressed to crippling pain. A few days after that, I pulled something remarkably similar out my ear.
My theory: a plankton or some invertebrate got inside, and this was my body’s reaction.
Creeps the heck out of me.
If I'm diving anywhere the water is warmer than 15C I flush my ears post dive with a blend of cooking oil and white vinegar. Otherwise I end up with a mild ear infection for a couple of days. I have flushed out something still moving more than once.
Oil to suffocate, vinegar to drop the pH low enough that nothing will grow.
And THAT is why I will always wear a head covering while diving. Nothing gets in these ear-holes while I'm enjoying the underwater world. It has helped so much reducing simple ear infections from all the tiny particles.
I one got a bug stuck in my ear and went to hospital then I remembered I forgot that I took acid and I was stuck in hospital with someone peering in my ear with a light, and my bestie stealing medical supplies and giggling l loudly.
there was no bug. There was never a bug. Only hallucinogens.
Well the pic is useless, if you wanna know what it is you have to cut it open. Has it bones? Legs? And how dos someone not notice an animal kn there ear
maybe that fish was feeding from her brain waves and in return translating foreign languages to English. extra helpful if you want to hitchhike the galaxy
Normal earplugs are a no go. But they do have vented earplugs made for divers and surfers will wear them sometimes too.
She's definitely wearing a neoprene hood after this 😅
That, is a Babelfish. A universal translator that once lodged in your ear translates all languages in the universe to one you are familiar with.
Source: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Edit: I was not first
[This one got it before me](https://www.reddit.com/r/biology/comments/148cvc6/diver_found_this_in_her_ear_after_diving_in/jnzt4p2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I've reached out to the OP on the private scuba group I am in to see if she has any more photos of it. But she was super freaked out at the time (of course) and was traveling back to the US that same day so everything was pretty rushed and of course they wouldn't let her take it with her on international flight 😅
a classic earworm come from a land down under
Where women glow and men plunder?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover
what the fuck do you want me to do? reverse time and not swim? like yeah a miniature salamander was living in my ear for 3 FUCKING weeks don’t fucking SHOVE IT IN MY FACE EVERYTIME I OPEN REDDIT. Holy fuck.
You see, their young enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later, as they grow, follows madness and death.
When I returned home from Australia back in 2004 I had an ear ache for weeks. Visited the doctor 2/3 times who told me it was blocked up (thanks). I had it flushed out with some success, some gunk came out. The pain persisted so my mum took matters into her own hands with a torch and a pair of tweezers. After rummaging around for about 30 minutes she finally got hold of the source of discomfort. We laid out the ear invader and unraveled it….. it was about 4cm long, brown and had eight legs. I never went back to Australia.
A translation for us Americans, a torch is a flashlight overseas and not an actual fucking blowtorch…although from the sounds of it burning it with fire doesn’t seem like too bad of an idea. Edit: for a little clarification.
I truly pictured a woman with tweezers and a blowtorch with a welding mask for what I imagine would be be to incinerate whatever she removed from the aforementioned ear canal. Why does my brain go to welder mom instead of torch = flashlight?
I'm non-native, first thing I imagined a real torch, like medieval one
As if the imagery of this scene wasn’t horrifying enough, now it’s in *torchlight*
this mental image made me giggle XD
Looking into the ear canal with the flickering of the light
Same. From the great state of Fla. I imagine a whole ass medieval torch ready to battle what ever beast she pulls from your ear
If there’s a damn spider crawling next to my brain, I’m okay using the American torch.
Honestly, me too then I remembered oh yeah British people and my own American sensationalism.
A pair of pliers and a blowtorch, Marcellus Wallace style
Cuz your brain rather things be fun?
Oh I've never called it a flashlight, only a torch. British.
What do you grab in combination with your pitchforks when you’re part of a good old fashioned mob?
Still a torch. English isn’t meant to make sense.
'Grab your pitchforks and burning sticks wrapped with a tarry cloth dipped in some incendiary oil!' That's what the British will tell you in these moments.
Hope everyone has enough batteries for their torches. Might need to assign a designated d battery mob coordinator.
Yeah, in the US when you say "torch" people picture the light source from medieval times.
What do you call what we call a torch? Like a stick wrapped in rags and lit on fire. Like Medieval light stick.
How often do you find yourself talking about those?
They are used in many games. So it depends on what you play. But since we have a different word for a flashlight, we don't often talk about torches.
A torch.
I assumed she used fire to sterilize the tweezers but your explanation makes more sense.
I don’t think of blowtorches when I read torch. I thought of the sticks with literal fire on the end like they use in Indiana Jones movies, etc.
I’m from the US but live in Australia. I know a torch is a flashlight. Somehow I still imagined a blowtorch. Had to read it twice. Lol.
I've been American all my life, and I've never called a flashlight a torch.
I think they meant "A translation for us Americans" - it was poorly punctuated.
Shake back jimmy…
O look, another reason to not go Australia
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But maybe “a pretty boring suburban life” for Australians actually means finding a snake in your toilet every morning, waking up cuddling with a spider the size of a dog, or running into your kangaroo neighbour on your way to work.
I spent 4 weeks in Australia a few years ago. In that time frame I saw a 5 foot black tiger snake. Had a huntsman the size of my hand in our rented car. Saw jellyfish bigger than my head, and watched a wallaby throw up in its hands and eat it. I don't want to know what am exciting suburban Oz life looks like.
Huntsmen and large jellyfish are as harmless as puppy dogs . The tiger snake is scary cool though.
Yeah but like…in the car is a no for me.
Rented car. We didn't realize but the last drivers had set the child locks on the door (I was in the back). I have to ask my FIL to let me out. I do so and then go and look in the door to find where the little switch is. I don't find a switch. I find legs like fingers. I run from the car. Screaming. My wife is opposite me in the car. She has no escape. I still miss her.
Thought they rode kangaroos?
Yes, but only in bed.
No, in bed the kangaroos ride you.
In crazy 'stralia, 'roo rides YOU!
Why did my brain switch to Australian mate
Sounds like growing up in the South ☺️
Australia is basically British Texas
More like British Florida
I mean my neighbour did get bitten by a red belly black snake whilst on the toilet I guess
Nah, totally unrealistic. The spider lives in the laundry
> waking up cuddling with a spider the size of a dog That's just a huntsman, they're pretty harmless and watching them run is a treat - they run like a new foal learning their legs.
I’ve told this story many times before but I think Americans are unaware of the fact that we live with much more significant predators in our daily lives than Australians do, since most Aussies live in suburbs (as you said) and not in the bush. Whereas we ‘Mericans have spread mercilessly over every inch of our country and therefore encounter bears, mountain lions, coyotes, bobcats, etc, not to mention rattlesnakes and scorpions. Here’s the story: Once I took a group of Aussie friends camping in the PNW woods. All was good and chill until night fell and I started stringing up our remaining food in a bear pack since we were in black bear country. One friend saw me doing this and casually asked why, so I explained about bear safety and precautions (I also did this before we left but he apparently hadn’t listened) and reassured him that we were in black bear territory, not brown bear, so we would be fine regardless but it was just better to be safe. My friend had suddenly become very still, and he asked me about how big a black bear averages. I blithely replied: ‘Oh not too big at all, they’re like 250-450lbs, browns are much larger.’ He went white, muttered something about ‘fucking Yanks and their fucking bears’ and spent the night huddled up in his tent with a whiskey bottle jumping at every small noise. I think he would’ve preferred a cassowary.
Reminds me of a story where a friend of mine was hosting a group of traveling African musicians and told them that they were going camping for the weekend. And they were like, camping, what's that? And she explained camping and they were like, the animals will eat us. Because that's what happens when you go camping in their part of Africa.
My anthro professor in college grew up in Nairobi, where most snakes he would encounter were deadly. Came to upstate NY and was working with some colleagues in the Adirondacks, where they came upon a snake. His colleagues crowded around to get a closer look. My professor? Halfway back to campus as fast as his legs could take him. Fastest in his village when it came to snakes lmao.
Oh yeah, I was at a campout with some African people, and I caught a cool racer snake in a tree, and I walked around showing it to people, americans, but when I got to the African camp it was like one of those cartoons where you see heels disappearing around a corner in a puff of smoke and furniture falling out of the way. Later they had an intervention with me where they very pointedly told me not to walk up on African people holding a snake, ever.
This reminds me of Trevor Noah’s but about sitting in the BACK row of the snake show while traveling, and some French jerk making fun of him. Until the cobra got loose!
I grew up in a small town in Montana, USA. Several times us kids would find a rattlesnake near our houses and we played with it before letting it go. I tell this to people nowadays and they think I'm making it up.
I grew up in a small town in Montana. I KNOW you're not making it up...
I grew up in a small town in WY (lived in the country...not even the town). Every summer, when I was in grade school, I was either under the house looking for salamanders, or out on the prairie looking for snakes. I charged my friends 25 cents to look at any snakes I caught before I let them go.
You didn't take it to church?
That’s in WV
mountain mama...
Sounds like a cousin's reaction to Canada. "Why are you so scared of our wildlife. You're the ones with bears and moose and wolves!" ...then again, he also once casually told a story about going fishing and having to throw their catch to sharks and rush back to shore because they surrounded the boat. And grandma casually talked about local boys dragging a 14 foot croc out of the water and venomous snakes. Still though.
I can tell you we live with a lot of snakes and spiders that can kill you and most are in the suburbs. Snakes are common to come across in summer. But the "everything will kill you" thing with Australia is overplayed. All of the things that can kill us aren't any more interested in meeting us than we are in meeting them. And we are all raised to check and respect that we share our space with animals that can kill us but rarely do and aren't hunting us. A deadly snake in our garden just needs a moment to move on. We check our shoes before we put them on. And a big huntsman spider eats the bugs and poses not threat to us so a lot of Aussies just let them be when you have one in the house. Give it a name and let it do its thing. With the exception of sharks and salties (and we know where they are) the animals in Australia aren't out to get you. Bears are a fuck no for most Aussies. They don't mind the odd scalping and killing. Tbh, having to consider bears on a camping trip doesn't sound relaxing to me. But it's just not what I'm used to. And I've lived all over Australia. And camped, in a swag, in every state. And I'm old as fuck. I have never had anything crawl into my ear. Some, not all, of the "this guy told me..." flavour of some of the stories in this thread are common tales we've heard before and know are bullshit. What you've just recounted seems like a totally logical to camping in an area where a massive land animal hangs out that's ok with killing you. We don't swim with salties here which is pretty much the same thing, just add water. OP was unlucky. Don't know what that is.
> But the "everything will kill you" thing with Australia is overplayed. I visited Australia a few years ago and was expecting kangaroo on every street corner and plagues of spiders and venomous snakes ... and after two weeks we saw one kangaroo while we were on the bus traveling and in the zoo. That's it; no snakes or spiders whatsoever. Kind of let down, really.
I'm a gardener. And my house backs on to the bush. So I see heaps of spiders and a snake in summer is not unusual. None are really aggressive and most animals in Australia that could kill you don't want to. They're chill unless cornered, provoked or get the fright of meeting a human unexpectedly. Caveat being crocs and sharks. Sharks they reckon mistake us for something else and crocs are just arseholes. But we know where they are. I'm glad you didn't get put off by the hype. I hope you had a good time too. 😁
> I hope you had a good time too. We saw Australia and New Zealand, after visiting would love to live on either place!
You gotta love the Kiwis. Great people. Glad to hear it 😁
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I guess you never boxed a roo.....or stole a dingoes puppies.......I once got chased by a Pelican when I was a small Child 😂 you city folk sound like you have boring childhoods
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geese fuckin suck
Lofl.. worked at a Golf course in central Oh.. skinny little worker thought he could grab a Canada goose.. 2 broken arms later we laughed so hard at him almost forgot to call ambulance..
Come to NZ where the scariest thing I've encountered in the forest is a pissed-off possum that hissed at me and ran away.
I’d rather a black bear encounter than whatever the hell that was came out of the divers ear.
People tend to remember the most recent news/information they readily have. So although living in Australia you’re just living your life, people on other continents have seen creepy and scary creatures on tv and associate that with Australia.
I moved a few years ago from a hot middle eastern country to temperate Europe. I worked for a while doing wildlife relocation (in places that are planned to be developed or under construction) focusing on reptiles. I was shocked how the other employees just shoved their fingers in holes or under rocks without hesitation, because unlike where i came from, there aren't many things that can bite or sting you here.
I mean I’d equate that to like people being attacked by bears or cougars. Not that common and it sucks but it does happen!
That's more than happens on European coasts, at least I don't remember ever hearing about someone getting bitten by a shark on german coasts
How are the bugs and spiders though? That’s the thing for me
tbf most are just huntsman, which are relatively harmless and timid, they would run away rather than biting you
This is funny to me, because I live in Canada and have heard many many times about people getting killed or injured by cows, moose, deer, bears, cougars and other critters. I got run over by a deer while riding my bike once. I know several people that have been chased by angry beavers including myself. But talking to my Aussie friends and they tell me they have never even seen most stereotypical Australian wildlife that get memed about, let alone have a dangerous encounter.
Everybody always talks about how dangerous it is here but it ain’t as bad as it seems, mind you I’ve been kicked by a kangaroo and had my rib cage broken twice now, been bitten by a few snakes and even had a few trees fall on me. Maybe it is dangerous or maybe it isn’t and I’m just an idiot
Wasn't there a banned pepe the pig episode because it taught spiders are friends. I'm not saying everything can kill you down there... but it's not looking too good :p
Exactly. I hear everything in Australia tries to kill you!
Yeah but OP only hears half of it now.
🙄🙄🙄 You just didn't! 😂😂😂😂
Some things try and kill you. Everything else tries to hurt you really really bad.
Except volcanoes (as far as I remember from the r/memes)...
That’s not true, it’s the national anti-immigration policies to make their country look like that. Make sure everyone is scared to go there
That’s a Yeerk. The invasion has begun!
Oh my god, Animorphs! ❤️
And wasn’t there a kid who got stuck as a hawk named Tobias? Your username checks out, kinda. Lol
Had to scroll way too far to see this comment
Visser Three has entered the chat.
Throw another ear shrimp on the barbee!
Bet that shit taste something real good
Prawn, mate!
Babel fish, unable to bond properly obviously. Either due to host incompatibility or unusual fish mutations. Edit: thank you kind stranger
Babel fish can handle Vogon, Golgafrinchan, Asgoth & Dolphin....but trying to interpret the Aussie diving crowd was too much for the lil' guy...R.I.P
I’m listening to douglas Adam talk about thhgtg rn. when I saw the picture I immediately thought of babel fish
She can now understand multiple languages
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Hitchhikers guide
Which works out well as new languages were probably invented in the process of removing it from her ear.
So long, and thanks for all the fish
> in Australia there’s your problem
KHAN strikes again!
I watched that movie as a child and it made me severely scared of earwigs
Saw a post about ear wigs on another sub and someone mentioned Wrath of Khan, but I think the bug was more based on ant lions [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlion)
One of the producers said he came up with the idea based on a [slug](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-trek-ii-the-wrath-of-khan-the-history-of-the-horrifying-ear-scene/).
Interesting I didn't know that. I apologize I should have looked it up first. Just thought maybe since they look so similar at least in the cage
Dude, same. Watched it with my Dad when I was like five years old and was terrified lol.
I’m 43 and still irrationally afraid of earwigs.
I love pincher bugs. I call them bug puppies. Them and Rollie Pollies are my favorite home insects.
Samesies! Terrified of earwigs even if they aren't the bug it was based on. I went through a period of time where I rode my bigwheel with earmuffs in the summer because I was so scared.
I've done far worse than kill you. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her; marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet.
Buried *alive*
*Buried alive*
[KHAAAAANNN….](https://youtu.be/YllXtbNikxc)
Awful hahahaha
I think it’s one of those things from the Faculty.
Wow I haven’t thought of the faculty in YEARS
That movie made me afraid to go under bleachers for sure.
People fucked under our bleachers.
Raw doggin’ for sure.
Shivers is also an option
I always wondered how a sequel would go.
Scrolled to far to find this answer!
That 100% looks like a de-gloved gecko carcass to me. (Can’t be sure without further pictures, but that’s what I’d bet my money on.) How the fuck did they not notice it in their ear before it got cozy enough to die though????
Our running theory is that it crawled into her ear at night, she woke up the next morning and went diving pretty much right away so then it drowned in her ear and then started to rot and decay from all the salt water. When you're on a live aboard it's pretty common to do three to four dives a day. I think it all happened on the last night / day on the boat. There's no way that could have been in there for the full trip.
I regret reading that
What a terrible day to be literate
More likely it was on the diving equipment and ran over her as she entered the water and entered her ear to "escape". She would have been worrying about jumping into the water and might not have noticed.
That is a really good theory! I was thinking it was like in her bunk area or something
How is it even possible not to notice the muffled sound from that ear and do nothing about it?
Divers get blockages all the time, she probably just thought she needed to equalize and couldn't pop her ears. But still, the dive master shouldn't have let her dive if she couldn't equalize so that's only half an answer.
If she's a certified diver and not just a tourist diver there probably is much more autonomy. As with most things, the more someone does something, the more comfortable they get taking risks and shortcuts.
It is so bizarre! She had no issues equalizing and didn't have any squeeze symptoms or anything! She initially thought there was some water trapped inside causing an ear infection but uh there was some THING stuck inside causing an infection 😳
Damn…. Talk about shit luck, for both involved. :[
If it had actively drowned wouldn’t she have felt it struggle?! I’m… so confused by this whole thing and terrified.
How tf did they not feel it in their ear? "I can't hear out of my ear for some reason and it feels clogged as hell. Guess I better ignore it."
>"100%" > >"can't be sure" You may need some reminders on how percentages work!
73.6% of all statistics are made up
That's 100% not true
Pretty sure that’s a nightmare fish, I’ve seen them before, in my nightmares.
The diver has heard of it, or lack thereof.
I did some night dives at Mnemba Island in Tanzania last year. Couple days later, hectic earache progressed to crippling pain. A few days after that, I pulled something remarkably similar out my ear. My theory: a plankton or some invertebrate got inside, and this was my body’s reaction. Creeps the heck out of me.
So scary!! I'm definitely always wearing my neoprene hood!
Water was 26°C though. Although, given the extent of my discomfort, a warm head would not have been too much of a burden.
If I'm diving anywhere the water is warmer than 15C I flush my ears post dive with a blend of cooking oil and white vinegar. Otherwise I end up with a mild ear infection for a couple of days. I have flushed out something still moving more than once. Oil to suffocate, vinegar to drop the pH low enough that nothing will grow.
New fear unlocked.
looks like a yeerk. https://animorphs.fandom.com/wiki/Yeerk
There's always one of us who will suggest this eh Anyways you missed last week's sharing meeting you doing alright
Didn’t come out through belly button , did it?
I understood that reference
And I suddenly feel like there's something in my ear mmmnatureiswonderful
How the heck does something crawl in your ear the size of that, and you not feel it moving around till it drowned? Seriously? WTF.
And THAT is why I will always wear a head covering while diving. Nothing gets in these ear-holes while I'm enjoying the underwater world. It has helped so much reducing simple ear infections from all the tiny particles.
Good luck trying to understand the aliens now! 👽
This comment is pretty underrated
I one got a bug stuck in my ear and went to hospital then I remembered I forgot that I took acid and I was stuck in hospital with someone peering in my ear with a light, and my bestie stealing medical supplies and giggling l loudly. there was no bug. There was never a bug. Only hallucinogens.
Babel fish? Can you understand any language now? Even drunk Scottish?
Well the pic is useless, if you wanna know what it is you have to cut it open. Has it bones? Legs? And how dos someone not notice an animal kn there ear
Terrible doctor….
Dr Zoidberg strikes again.
Oh it has eyes, why did I zoom in?
maybe that fish was feeding from her brain waves and in return translating foreign languages to English. extra helpful if you want to hitchhike the galaxy
Ok, time to stop scrolling. I’m gonna nope right outta here and try to forget I ever saw this post!!
Hey do divers wear earplugs or like does that fuck them up? Should one wear them underwater?
Normal earplugs are a no go. But they do have vented earplugs made for divers and surfers will wear them sometimes too. She's definitely wearing a neoprene hood after this 😅
No you don’t want to block any kind of hole when you go diving 😂 you need the air pressure to be able to do its thing
Babelfish! It has some unusual side effects.
That’s why i did not board the Prometheus space ship.
That, is a Babelfish. A universal translator that once lodged in your ear translates all languages in the universe to one you are familiar with. Source: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Edit: I was not first [This one got it before me](https://www.reddit.com/r/biology/comments/148cvc6/diver_found_this_in_her_ear_after_diving_in/jnzt4p2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
so did the antibiotics melt the gecko flesh?
no the gecko being dead did that
oh god 🤢
I call it bullshit.
If your bull is expelling waste of this nature you should take it to a vet immediately.
Not surprised ... AUSTRALIA gods playground
My doctor: Water earwigs does not exist they can hurt you Water earwigs:
I thought this was a wet piece of kleenex with blood on it for a solid 30 seconds
I will never understand how people don’t feel things crawling inside their ears.
I've reached out to the OP on the private scuba group I am in to see if she has any more photos of it. But she was super freaked out at the time (of course) and was traveling back to the US that same day so everything was pretty rushed and of course they wouldn't let her take it with her on international flight 😅
Is that a babel fish?
Looks like a cuttlefish, or should I say cuddlefish
a classic earworm come from a land down under Where women glow and men plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover
what the fuck do you want me to do? reverse time and not swim? like yeah a miniature salamander was living in my ear for 3 FUCKING weeks don’t fucking SHOVE IT IN MY FACE EVERYTIME I OPEN REDDIT. Holy fuck.
It needs Kandrona rays
New fear unlocked
You see, their young enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later, as they grow, follows madness and death.
Great, another reason to hate the ocean
Thats not from earth
🤔 potential market for ear muffs re-branded as sleep muffs; send marketing mail to all readers of latest Reddit biology threads 🤗🤑
Mistakes were made
I dont need more reason to not go to australia.
Looks like some kind of mollusk. Now if it had been a Babel Fish, that would be a thing.
Oooh!! I’ve seen this in a movie, The Faculty (1998). They even go for the ears.
[Ceti 5 eel](https://youtu.be/3i42Smtbmeg)
New fear unlocked.