[Sk8r]

Depends on the fish, its diet, according to some reports, and the individual's sensitivity. Guy I saw had most of his thumb inky black, dead, necrosis, from which flesh doesn't recover---from a rabbitfish. You can end up with a nasty scar, or in this guy's case, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't lose the thumb. I've seen fiddleback spiderbites necrose clear to the bone,. and the deep dimpled scars they leave aren't pretty,so 'no worse than a spider bite' is subject to a lot of conditions. I'd liken it more to snakebite...occasionally it's not a problem, but sometimes it's real serious. I've never heard of anybody dying from a tank encounter, but they certainly can be seriously toxic.

I recommend wearing the nitrile gloves in ALL work in the tank because of the chemical problem (no protection against fish spines, but do protect against bristleworms), and rubberband your wrist if you have a sore on your hand, which will keep your hand dry. I know we don't always follow that ideal, and we instinctively dive in, in a crisis, but *try* to use the gloves for everything.. If they're good enough for brain surgeons to wear, in terms of touch, they're good enough for us to work around corals.