A species of puffer fish with toxic flesh and bone-crushing jaws is expanding its range throughout the Mediterranean, causing local authorities to issue warnings to tourists about the risk of bites.Some places are even taking precautions to protect swimmers and bathers from the invasive silver-cheeked toadfish, also called harefish.The fish reportedly entered the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal and has spread as sea temperatures have warmed.It carries tetrodotoxin, a deadly neurotoxin found primarily in its flesh and internal organs, and its powerful beak-like jaws can shred fishing gear and bite through bone.CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWSExperts note, however, that the fish does not routinely attack people.
Bites tend to occur when people try to catch, handle or otherwise interact with them.A 2024 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Toxics documented 198 human-health incidents involving invasive puffer fish across the eastern Mediterranean between 2004 and 2023.The silver-cheeked toadfish has powerful jaws that tourists have been warned can shred fishing gear and bite through bone.(iStock)There were 28 records of physical attacks, at least 144 non-lethal poisoning episodes and 27 human fatalities resulting from consumption of the fish, the study found."The number of recorded incidents greatly increased after 2019, especially with regard to poisonings, yet whether this is related to greater media attention, or to increased fish abundance is unclear," the researchers wrote in their study.TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZThe Hellenic Red Cross, Greece's national Red Cross society, issued a public advisory in June cautioning that the fish’s flesh "contains a potent neurotoxin (tetrodotoxin), which makes it extremely dangerous to eat," The Times, a U.K.-based newspaper, reported."Because the distribution of the toxin varies, no part of the fish is considered safe to eat," the Red Cross warned.
"Although the harefish’s bite is not venom...