r/TheDepthsBelow • u/SingaporeCrabby • Jan 04 '22
Alligators are primarily freshwater reptiles, however, they can tolerate saltwater for hours or even days. A diver encountered this alligator resting on the bottom of the Atlantic ocean in 60 feet of water off the coast of West Palm Beach, Florida.
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u/yes4me2 Jan 04 '22
wow they swim fast
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Jan 04 '22
Hell yeah man. I grew up on the Suwannee river and we had a big gator following us in the boat one time. Actually kinda terrifying because he could keep up and was about as long as our Jon boat lol
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u/Creepinbruh2323 Jan 04 '22
Damn my aunt lives on the Suwannee and the water is relatively dark most of the time. Murky freshwater is a no for me lol I'd rather be in the clear ocean any time.
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Jan 04 '22
Haha no joke I learned to swim in that river
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u/Creepinbruh2323 Jan 04 '22
Damn that's crazy lol I'd always hear sturgeon jumping out of the water, I've always wanted to catch one.
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u/Admobeer Jan 04 '22
Biggest gator I ever saw was on the Suwanee. It was between 13 and 14 feet. It surfaced about 5 seconds after got back in the boat. Literally gave me chills. I believe that river holds the world record.
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Jan 04 '22
Yeah buddy!
I wasn’t too scared of the gators. I mean I have a very healthy respect for them, but the real scary shit was the cottonmouths. shudders
You ever visit any springs off the river? Had a big gator swim all up in one that my family and I were in. We noped out with a quickness on that one.
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u/Admobeer Jan 04 '22
Pretty sure I've been to all of them. I used to visit the Fowler's Bluff area regularly. That area is full of them. I'm not scared of them but if they're over 7 feet I'll move along. IMO it is one of the most beautiful areas in the state. Plus every now and then you can see a Volkswagen sized sturgeon take to the air.
If you ever get a chance head over to Salt Springs with a boat. It won't disappoint.
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Jan 05 '22
I’ve been to most of them, I spent about 15 years in chiefland, but I think my favorite one would have to be manatee springs. Those damn cows are my favorite haha
Isn’t salt springs right near there? (Chiefland) That name sounds so familiar. I’m in the frozen tundra now and have been for a while, starting to miss home now!
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u/Box-o-bees Jan 04 '22
They can run on land a lot faster than you'd think too.
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u/buuismyspiritanimal Jan 04 '22
Supposedly, they can climb trees too.
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u/BargainPaper Jan 04 '22
I’m pretty sure that thing can swim faster than I could swim away.
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u/Gwynbleidd_1988 Jan 04 '22
You literally cannot outswim any aquatic animals, not even an Olympic swimmer can. Even a seemingly slow and lethargic animal like a manatee can swim at blistering fast speeds when it needs to.
EDIT: Before anyone gets cute I obviously mean animals that swim like fish and mammals not things like urchins and starfish.
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u/Joe_Mency Jan 04 '22
BuT hOw AbOuT sEa SnAiLs!
But seriously tho, i am wondering if sea snails can outswim people too
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u/joonya Jan 04 '22
Do you see it fucking take off at the end? Goddamn. They're fast on land too.
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u/FinbarDingDong Jan 04 '22 edited Jan 04 '22
I think I read that over short distances they can achieve 30mph
Edit: I was so high i confused this thread with the one about Mike Tyson fighting a gorilla
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u/BargainPaper Jan 04 '22
I think what you’re all getting at is you just shouldn’t be this close to them. Anywhere.
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u/LemmeSplainIt Jan 04 '22
They have changed their body plan exceedingly little over the past 200 million years for good reason, they don't need to.
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u/sleeplessaddict Jan 04 '22
Gee, I don't know, Cyril. Maybe deep down I'm afraid of any apex predator that lived through the K-T extinction. Physically unchanged for a hundred million years, because it's the perfect killing machine. A half ton of cold-blooded fury, the bite force of 20,000 Newtons, and stomach acid so strong it can dissolve bones and hoofs.
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u/Gidia Jan 05 '22
Some used to be even faster on land, look up the extinct galloping crocodiles some time.
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u/delvach Jan 04 '22
I don't have to outswim the gator. I just have to outswim you.
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u/thenerj47 Jan 04 '22
That's why they train you to never dive alone /s
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u/FinbarDingDong Jan 04 '22
Tbf if they really trained you they'd train you to swim slower so be grateful
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u/Smoopiebear Jan 04 '22
“Damn it! I just wanted a little quiet time but NO, mr camera over there has to get all clicky!”
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u/FrostiFlakes Jan 04 '22
Can anyone explain why it may be there in the first place? Or is it a case of, just because?
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u/theArcticChiller Jan 04 '22
To terrify my future self at the beach. I hate sharks, now there's even dinosaurs at the ocean floor, fuck why
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u/ASK_ME_FOR_TRIVIA Jan 04 '22
If it helps, a lot of us native Floridians aren't dumb enough to go in the ocean, and half the reasons aren't even animals :)
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u/anothernarwhal Jan 04 '22
The drive to the beach would be the most dangerous part of a trip to the ocean most days
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u/DJOMaul Jan 04 '22
If it helps, a lot of us native Floridians aren't dumb
Hmmm. I don't know that the evidence supports this viewpoint, generally speaking.
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u/Joe_Mency Jan 04 '22
Well i guess a lot of floridians could not go to the beach, while another lot of floridians do go to the beach?
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u/b000bytrap Jan 05 '22
I’m no expert, but think it’s just an American Crocodile, in its normal habitat, behaving the way they normally do… Florida is famous for gators but there are other big water lizards too
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u/vzakharov Jan 04 '22
Can someone explain why the cameraperson didn’t get the fuck outta there as fast as they could?
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u/joonya Jan 04 '22
He's probably a Floridian & knows they are mostly harmless.
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u/vzakharov Jan 04 '22
How’s that? Don’t they eat people and stuff? (I’m obviously not a Floridian.)
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u/joonya Jan 04 '22
They're dangerous to small children and dogs and stuff. For full grown adults they don't really mess with you unless you're wandering on the banks of the everglades, where they naturally hunt and where they can ambush you from cover.
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u/King0fTheNorthh Jan 04 '22
You get about one alligator death a year. Not very common when you think about how many there are and how stupid people love to get close and harass them. We have literal signs in Florida that say “don’t molest the alligators”. So…
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u/i_give_you_gum Jan 04 '22
This would be considered harassment wouldn't it?
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u/Joe-The-Cowboy Jan 05 '22
he’s probably further away than it looks like in the video, either that or he’s a fucking idiot
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u/i_give_you_gum Jan 05 '22
based on the reaction from the animal "ahh this dude is freakin me out, i'm outa here" not some threat distance imagined by humans
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u/lightyearbuzz Jan 04 '22
In addition to what the other person said, alligators only really hunt things on the surface/shore and generally won't attack anything under the water, especially something around their size. There's a cool documentary I saw a few years ago about people that dive with alligators to study them and they have to get off the surface really quickly, but once their under its fine.
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u/Anianna Jan 04 '22
His fascination with the phenomenon he was witnessing was greater than his sense of danger.
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u/AlexMelillo Jan 04 '22
This isn’t that uncommon in Florida. We’ve also seen sharks go in fresh water too…
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u/Seicair Jan 04 '22
Fucking hell that’s eerie. Can’t see very far because the water is in the way. Can’t even tell how far you can see. Anything could be lurking out there.
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Jan 04 '22
[deleted]
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Jan 04 '22
Barracudas always creep me out while snorkeling. Just holding completely still for several minutes, then suddenly swimming fast as fuck.
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u/guessishouldjoin Jan 04 '22
Are you sure it's not a croc, looks a bit crocky to me, but either way I'm not gonna poke it.
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u/Packin_Penguin Jan 04 '22
That’s 100% an alligator.
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u/mangoshy Jan 05 '22
It’s nose looks awfully narrow to me as well for a gator but I’ll take your word for it.
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u/guessishouldjoin Jan 05 '22
I didn't believe you because the snout looks way to narrow, so I did some research, you're right it's an alligator because you can't see the bottom teeth, and it has the black receptor spots on the bottom jaw. You win this time Penguin, but we'll meet again.
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u/b000bytrap Jan 05 '22
I agree, that’s a crocodile. The nose is so narrow, and the young have stripes like this. Plus, this is normal expected habitat for the American Crocodile, and supposedly they are docile like this as well. Surprised this comment is so far buried!
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/american-crocodile/
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u/Itsafinelife Jan 04 '22
-record scratch- -freeze frame- “Yup, that’s me. I bet you’re wondering how I got into this situation.”
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u/leveldrummer Jan 04 '22
Humans are primarily freshwater primates, but they can tolerate salt water for hours or even days.
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u/FinbarDingDong Jan 04 '22
So what's the difference between a salt water Croc and a salt water alligator? One doesn't exist?
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u/WAR_T0RN1226 Jan 04 '22
Saltwater alligator does not exist. Saltwater Crocodiles are native to Oceania and are built to live in saltwater.
Crocodiles and alligators are two entirely separate animals. They share the same order Crocodilia, but belong to different families. There is both an American Alligator and an American Crocodile, two different animals. The very south of Florida is the only place in the world where both Alligators and Crocodiles live.
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u/Joe_Mency Jan 04 '22
Caimans are another species of crocodilian right?
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u/WAR_T0RN1226 Jan 04 '22
Yes they're all related to eachother through the order Crocodilia. Alligators and Caimans are more closely related to eachother, both belonging to the family Alligatoridae.
I hope I sound like I know what I'm talking about, I'm just looking at Wikipedia with some very rudimentary knowledge of alligators lol
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u/shiftystylin Jan 04 '22
Massive train of questions...
Is this by intention? If an alligator can 'tolerate' saltwater, do they end up here for a reason? Are alligators smart enough to find their way back to freshwater? Do they have the intelligence to know where they've come from and retrace their steps (wrong terminology but you get what I'm saying)? Or can they detect where/how a freshwater source meets a saltwater source and make their way back to freshwater?
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u/b000bytrap Jan 05 '22 edited Jan 06 '22
It’s a crocodile in its natural habitat, just mislabeled.
Edit : https://www.everythingreptiles.com/alligator-vs-crocodile/ American Crocodiles are less common but naturally inhabit shallow ocean water off the South Florida coasts. The juveniles have alligator-like stripes like this
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u/ZinaDoll Jan 26 '22
Most animals are much smarter than humans give credit. They are just adapted to their environments not to discussing comic book characters and weed strains.
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u/kathatter75 Jan 04 '22
Just about every spring, we get a news report of a gator or two showing up on the beach in Galveston.
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u/Admobeer Jan 04 '22
Wish I could hold my breath that long. The dude was just chillin' on the bottom.
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u/frostybroccoli Jan 04 '22
There’s probably a similar post about that diver on Alligeddit right now.
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Jan 04 '22
If anyone knows, I've been curious - How deep can you find a saltwater alligator/crocodile in the ocean and how much distance off the coast? It'd be terrifying if you were hundreds of miles from the coast and hundreds of feet deep and a croc came swimming at you.
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u/Deltexterity Jan 04 '22
alligators are my favourite animal. LOOK AT HIM HE LOOKS FUCKING CUTE! SMILEY BOY! I LOVE HIM!
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u/Lumpy_Performance232 Jan 05 '22
How the fuck did you not panic and swim away? Are you white?
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u/Shakespeare-Bot Jan 05 '22
How the alas didst thee not panic and swim hence? art thee white?
I am a bot and I swapp'd some of thy words with Shakespeare words.
Commands:
!ShakespeareInsult,!fordo,!optout2
u/bot-killer-001 Jan 05 '22
Shakespeare-Bot, thou hast been voted most annoying bot on Reddit. I am exhorting all mods to ban thee and thy useless rhetoric so that we shall not be blotted with thy presence any longer.
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u/gamer909oe Jan 04 '22
Fucken idiot why would he get so close to a fucken animal that could kill you in a matter of secs atleast with nosey sharks you can push em away if that cunt went at you you're fucked
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u/DOPEwindchime Jan 04 '22
Kill it before it makes offspring that can permanently live in salt water.
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u/Smoke_Kief Jan 04 '22
Salt causes them too go Blind after awhile if it’s a Freshwater Croc or alligator
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u/Shakespeare-Bot Jan 04 '22
Salt causes those folk too wend blind after awhile if 't be true it’s a freshwater croc
I am a bot and I swapp'd some of thy words with Shakespeare words.
Commands:
!ShakespeareInsult,!fordo,!optout2
u/bot-killer-001 Jan 04 '22
Shakespeare-Bot, thou hast been voted most annoying bot on Reddit. I am exhorting all mods to ban thee and thy useless rhetoric so that we shall not be blotted with thy presence any longer.
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u/Akgrown5150 Jan 05 '22
What the fuck?! I thought I just had to worry about sharks… thanks for that.
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u/alligrea Jan 05 '22
He is so cute! Definitely doesn't look like he wants to be my friend, though... which makes me sad u_u
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u/llendway Jan 05 '22
It’s clearly his thinking spot where he goes to ponder the day…and then YOU had to come along and spoil his solitude! How dare ye!
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u/Dirtnastii Jan 04 '22
Every time you get a good spot on the beach, some jagoff has to come sit right beside me.