- Autophobia is a fear of being alone. (One of the aspects I most like about open water swimming is being alone, away from people and even from land).
- Bathophobia is a fear of depths or deep things, (for swimmers who dislike swimming over deep water).
- Cryophobia (or Frigophobia or Cheimatophobia) is a fear of cold, cold weather or cold things. Also known as Psychophobia. I think there’s a biological component to this, as most people unacclimatised to really cold water will have physical fear response in anticipation.
- Cnidophobia is a fear of stings. Surprisingly, there is no specific clinical phobia of jellyfish.
- Dishabiliophobia is fear of undressing in front of someone. Probably relevant when you changing to swim, by the side of the road in Ireland, in winter.
- Eleutherophobia is a fear of freedom. Seriously, are we ever as free as when we are open water swimming?
- Eosophobia is fear of dawn or daylight. A bit difficult for an overnight swim should you suffer from this.
- Francophobia or Gallophobia is a fear of France or French things. That’s the English Channel out then for those sufferers.
- Galeophobia or Selachophobia is a fear of sharks.
- Ichthyophobia is a fear of fish.
- Kymophobia or Cymophobia is a fear of waves.
- Limnophobia is a fear of lakes.
- Megalophobia is a fear of large things and Mycrophobia is a fear of small things. Both are prevalent in the sea.
- Myctophobia / Nyctophobia / Scotophobia / Achluophobia / Lygophobia: Fear of the dark or darkness. That’s a whole lot of fear right there.
- Ostraconophobia is a fear of shellfish.
- Ornithophobia is a fear of birds.
- Osmophobia is a fear of smells or odours.
- Thalassophobia is a fear of the sea.
- I embrace Megalohydrothalassophobia as a fear of the unknown and-or large objects underwater, a useful word for many people, but unlike the others not a medically recognised phobia or even a recognised word, yet. But I think the past few years on LoneSwimmer have helped its cause.
Related articles
- Ichthyophobia (lilyblu.wordpress.com)
LoneSwimmer 
I just wanna comment that You forgot Submechanophobia. Which is fear of man-made objects that submerged under water. In this would count the fear of sunken ships, airplanes, other vehicles and such. 🙂
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I can swim on top of water any time, any where, and it doesn’t bother me a bit (I enjoy it). But I refuse to put my head under the water. I wonder why there is no phobia word for just that. Maybe I’m weird.
By the way, fear of the unknown already has a word: xenophobia.
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Me too. I hate going under the water. Not afraid of water, just going under.
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dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.
“the resurgence of racism and xenophobia” wrong sorry.
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I get scared when I can’t see around me, too much sediment and visibility is low…when your hands pass by on the stroke they are dim, partnered with not seeing the bottom and cold water…I am definitely not acclimatized to California waters
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Me and my brother have this fear that when we’re swimming in the ocean or river or any big mass of water, we can not let our feet just dangle straight down because we don’t know what’s lying down or swimming right below us and that terrifies us. Is there a name for that?
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This is my fear as well. I absolutely will not let my legs hang down if I can’t see my feet in the water and I was wondering the same thing.
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Hola Nado en laguna en San Pedro de la Paz Concepcion Chile. Alli se ven pasar de vez en cuando coipos .Pienso en que alguno se me acerque y me muerda .Les tengo panico.
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I have this fear of being totally underwater and opening my eyes to the the animals. I dont have a fear of drowning or being underwater but its seeing the animals all around me that freak me out to the point where I have a panic attack. Can any of you guys let me know that this fear would be.
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I have a fear of not able to grab on something in the water. So I cannot let go my kick board as I fear of not able to grab on a pole if I need to stand mid-swim. What this phobia called?
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Fear of drowning! 🙂
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Is there a fear of opaque water and if there is, what is it called?
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Jesus crikeys that picture raised my heartbeat by thirty when I realized what it was.
I’m afraid of big things in water like squid, angler fish, and all those other ‘lovely’ monsters. I’m also afraid of shipwrecks (Particularly metal/modern boats) weirdly enough). They fear there may be a dead body kinda wonders through my mind, but I’m going to go to school to become a forensic scientist, so I think that’d be kinda rad. I think I also have the fear of isolation. I feel more comfortable in tight spaces rather than large spaces so the thought of being alone and not being able to see nothing far as the eye can see is very uncomfortable.
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Well if there is a name for fear of the deep, the unknown, the dark, big sea creatures, being totally alone in the open, fear of drowning and the cold water all in one. What would it be? Technically, I think I have all phobias that are related to deep water and creatures. If only there was a name that summed up everything.
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I am deathly afraid of swimming in lakes, or anything where i cant see the bottom……. I never had a name for it until i read this post………….. Megalohydrothalassophobia………………
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I am the same way! None of my friends understand why I am so afraid but it’s horrible. Now I, too, know what it’s called.
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Or the fear of ‘not being able to get back’! And the fear of Weils disease, those are my two biggest fears; sharks, whales and jellies have nothing on those!
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I think the fear people feel went swimming over dark/deep water is very similar to that of the night (especially before modern era of lighting). The unknown and the unseen, so your imagination runs wild. Over the holidays my 10 year old daughter swam across a bay and she still talks of the moment when she couldn’t see the bottom, just darkness below, so she sensibly stopped looking underwater!
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lol – you just reminded me of swimming across Loch Oich in Scotland a couple of years ago. The water was so peaty that your hand disappeared into the dark every stroke. We adopted the same tactic as your daughter in case there was a Loch Oich monster beneath….
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I’m not sure which one I have, but the sensation usual occurs when I am in cold water. You talking about Loch Oich reminded me of this because for whatever reason my mind automatically makes me imagine my self in Loch Ness with something unknown beneath me. I also get short of breath and scared at the thought of diving or being far underwater while it’s possibly dark. Idk, thought it was relevant.
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excellent post. Not sure if I should show this to the relay team though in case they realise they have some phobias they didn’t know about until now…!!!
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Does anyone have a fear of going around the buoy–like it is some invisible line/barrier to something that will absolutely get you on the other side of the buoy and the other 400 meters swimming out to it doesn’t count [preteritusboyaphobia]? I get that one when I’m swimming alone. Also, by far my biggest fear in the ocean is jelly fish; I’d much rather encounter a shark!
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Is there one for ‘fear that your friends, family and neighbours think you’re crazy’?
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Crikey – I was never afraid of corpses until I read that comment but I am now! So far no-one has mentioned eels or leeches or loathsome wriggling swimming worms which I’ve seen near our jetty, or nasty black brittle starfish which are like underwater spiders and climb up seaweed and get ready to grab onto you, or sea lice or huge pike with massively sharp teeth which lurk in fresh water, just waiting…
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Does anyone have a fear of going around the buoy–like it is some invisible line/barrier to something that will absolutely get you on the other side of the buoy and the other 400 meters swimming out to it doesn’t count [preteritusboyaphobia]? I get that one when I’m swimming alone. Also, by far my biggest fear in the ocean is jelly fish; I’d much rather encounter a shark!
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For those who only breathe to one side – dextrophobia or levophobia. And I’m certain that Donal doesn’t suffer from Eremophobia. Great post, ta.
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I love that you included Gallophobia! Does anyone have Thalassogallophobia i.e. the fear of me??
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Well there’s Batrachophobia, fear of frogs …!
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I can’t believe that there’s no medical term for a fear of jelllyfish, possibly my biggest fear in the sea! Sticks/branches and corpses scare me in freshwater…
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But corpses in salt water are ok?
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Hahaha!
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For some reason I just don’t think about them there. You’re far more likely to find one in the Blackwater than at Sandycove…
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Exactly! I have a far of corpses or dead bugs in the water in any body of water minus the sink…how is there a phobia of alto of tiny holes but not this?!?
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Well, some jellyfish are called Cnidarians, so the fear of stings is quite close. We need to to get over this side during April/May, we get hundred’s of thousands, the water can get so thick with moon-jellies it’s almost solid
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I like moon jellies, I suppose my fear is really of the sting.
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I can arrange stings also. Pick a day with a south easterly wind!
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Nice list. I have one or two(or three..) of these:)
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