is it necessary for mask to be black

[kenten]

i searched forum for the explanation but couldnt find for precise,
i remember there was something about fish being scary with especially bright colours .
now i am planning to buy a transparent colourless cressi horizon because there is no black one in scubastore

thank for the help in advance

 

[DeepThought]

Don't know about the fishapeal (would like to hear an opinion about that), but I think that the black skirt is to help your eyes adjast faster when you look into a dark hole/cravis.

Since you have less light coming to your eyes at any given time 'coz your skirt is black, when you look into a hole the change in the amount of light is smaller, so your eyes adjast faster.

I'm not sure that the difference is big enough for you to be bothered by the subject, but I'm no spearfishing expert.

 

[Wishbone]

Hey Kenten,

Spearos usually use black masks, cause this is probably the most neutral color matching their wetsuits... And I don't meen it in a fashion way, of course.
When you have a black suit it's good for the mask to be black too cause that way the fish will take your whole body as one thing. And when the color of the wetsuit mathes the surrounding environment, it's difficult for the fish to separate your body from the rocks around which is the perfect camouflage. Recently the top manufacturers started producing masks with reflective lenses so the fish can't even notice the movement of the spearo's eyes.
Now I personally don't think that a dark green mask is worse than the black one if you use a green wetsuit... But the producers usually offer what sells best.
I'd strongly recommend you to give up the idea of bying a transparent skirt mask. The reason is the light that get's through the skirt and into your eyes. You can see it for yourself if you put your hands ina ma mask-like shape over your eyes. You know we see the object because the eye accepts the light reflected from it. So the less sources of direct light into the eye, the better it can focus on the one reflected by the objects. I don't know much about human anatomy, but I think that's the reason. And that's why people wear baseball caps.

 

[Pekka]

I have bit of experience on that..
I used to have mask that was bright pink... and I wen't hunting... and to be honest there has not been great change when I have changed into less bright coloured (dark blue) mask..
besides my gun has bright yellow handle and some bright coloured writing on the barrel.. I don't think fishes are that bothered about the colours of your gear, but the movoments you might make while stalking..

Safe diving

Pekka

 

[jodyfreedive]

I think the big thing is to stay away from transparent because of the light coming in and also because it can reflect light and making it stand out more.

 

[cdavis]

Wishbone and jodyfreedive are right about the clear skirt. I hit a similar problem with it. On the surface, the bright light coming through the skirt made shifting reflections on the glass, constantly giving me the impression of movement when there was none. VERY distracting for a spearo!