Fear of sharks and any underwater life.

I can remember what caused my fear of any underwater life. When I was 5 years old I remember going to an aqariam and walking down stares to where you could see the fish in there tanks through the glass. Well I remember staring really hard at one tank that had it's lights off. I was about 4 inchs from the glass looking for anything to see...(I am getting freaked out just telling the story). Well I am looking and looking then suddenly my eyes meet the eyes of a huge tiger shark. It was right in front of me the whole time, but I couldn't see it. It swims by me and I see it close up and in person. I sceamed and fell over. After that all I can remember is waking up in a hospitl bed. My mother told me I was passed out for 4 hours. She also told me my skin had literly turned white as snow.

Ever since then I have been afraid of ANY and ALL underwater life. It doesn't matter if it is a toy,picture,movie or as small as a coin. I cannot look at any undersea life.

What is my phobia called? I haven't met many people with this phobia.

I'm not exactly terrified at underwater life per se, but at the thought of being IN the water with them. I won't touch water I can't see the bottom of. And still...

For me, it's the fight or flight syndrome. If I'm in the water, then I'm completely OUT of my element, and whatever is in there is completely IN its element. So if I needed flight, well there's only so fast a human can swim in comparison to underwater life...and fight? I don't even know the best way to fight another human on land, let alone fight some attacking water creature. Yeah, I know about the "punch a shark in the nose" thing, but come on...I'm not sticking my hand out there, and I'm certainly not going to make it angry and hurt...and well, that's the only technique I've heard of. And that's only if you see it coming...yeah scaring myself a little here, lol.

But that said, I have a fascination with looking at undersea life instead of avoidance of it. Kinda like looking over the edge of a dangerous cliff...like just looking at sea creatures is a dangerous adventure that gives me that "chill" thrill.

I'm not as afraid of this subject as you are, but I get paranoid. I love going to the aquarium, but when I'm there I'm terrified that the glass is going to cave in and a shark will eat me.

The biggest problem I have is being afraid of alligators and crocodiles. They scare me so bad, so bad in fact that I have dreams of them living in swimming pools, ponds, and my own backyard.

-When I was a kid about 8 I think, I went to the zoo w/ my school. We were outside the reptile house, and my friend jumped onto this stone wall to see what was on the other side. She didn't tell me what was there, so I jumped up to see and almost fell over the edge! There was an alligator on the other side in this dark water, which did not have anything covering it. If I had fell over... well, we know what would've happened. Actually, there is a different design at the zoo now, so luckily no other kids will have this happen to them.

Also, I can't eat seafood. It freaks me out! lol