{"id":357268,"date":"2026-06-27T17:03:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=357268"},"modified":"2026-06-27T17:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:33:43","slug":"toxic-fish-with-razor-sharp-teeth-are-invading-greece-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/toxic-fish-with-razor-sharp-teeth-are-invading-greece-news-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Toxic fish with razor sharp teeth are invading Greece | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A silver-cheeked toadfish after being caught by fishermen on the southern Greek island of Crete (Picture: INTIME NEWS via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toxic fish with human-like teeth are invading Greece just as tourist season gets into full swing.<\/p>\n

The silver-cheeked toadfish is a torpedo-shaped species with distinguished, razor sharp teeth.<\/p>\n

In addition to having a vicious bite, it incorporates a robust neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin, which might cause heart and lung failure, making the fish unsuitable for human consumption.<\/p>\n

Silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus<\/em>) often inhabit the\u00a0Indian Ocean<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the fish are believed to have travelled up the\u00a0Suez Canal\u00a0and into the Mediterranean, attracted by warming waters. <\/p>\n

Fishermen in\u00a0Greece<\/a>\u00a0are actually getting money payouts to catch the fish migrating north into the Mediterranean Sea as a consequence of climate change.<\/p>\n

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Authorities say the fish haven’t been sighted in bathing areas at Greek island resorts. <\/p>\n

But in recent weeks, the fish have wreaked havoc for fishermen off the coast of\u00a0Crete\u00a0and several other other islands, chomping through nets.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s got to the purpose where we’d exit fishing at some point after which spend the following three days fixing our nets,\u2019 Giorgos Kyriakakis, of a Cretan fishermen\u2019s association, told Greek public broadcaster ERT on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u2018They eat our catch and damage our nets \u2014 that\u2019s very costly,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n

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The invasion prompted Cyprus to launch a\u00a0similar catch program<\/a>\u00a0earlier this 12 months.<\/p>\n

Starting Friday, Greece\u2019s government is offering \u20ac5.33 per kilogram for catches of the fish, which is often present in tropical waters.<\/p>\n

It’s the primary time that such a measure has been taken in Greece, Agriculture Minister Margaritis Schinas, a former\u00a0European Commission<\/a>\u00a0vice chairman, said ahead of the programme\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n

The fish \u2013 a member of the puffer fish family \u2013 might be frozen and incinerated at local government facilities, Schinas said. <\/p>\n

He added that the measure would likely be expanded from the currently affected areas to all Greek waters.<\/p>\n

Public concern has been stoked in Greece by videos posted online by fishing crews, showing the fish sinking their teeth into soda cans or pieces of wood.<\/p>\n

An elderly Greek woman was bitten by a pufferfish last week and required stitches to the wound. <\/p>\n

She was injured while swimming off a beach within the coastal resort of Varkiza, near Athens.<\/p>\n

The fish lunged at her without provocation, in accordance with local media reports.<\/p>\n

The Greek Red Cross has issued a public health warning in regards to the fish, outlining first-aid protocols for bleeding brought on by potential bites and warning of the deadly neurotoxin within the fish\u2019s organs.<\/p>\n

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Nota Peristeraki, an pufferfish expert from the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, said \u2018should you see it approaching you, you actually need to avoid it\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Some attacks have happened when people have tried to feed or touch the fish. There have been a few cases of individuals losing a finger or a toe,\u2019 he told The Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, these incidents are rare. \u2018You usually tend to encounter a\u00a0shark,\u2019 he added. <\/p>\n

Authorities and businesses on the island of Crete have cautioned against overreacting to the fish\u2019s offshore presence.<\/p>\n

\u2018The presence of those fish within the Mediterranean has been known for years,\u2019 a press release issued on Friday by 16 medical and tourism associations on Crete said.<\/p>\n

\u2018There’s, nonetheless, no \u2018invisible\u2019 or imminent danger to bathers. Marine predators don’t threaten the security of holiday makers and residents,\u2019 it said. <\/p>\n

\u2018Exaggeration is usually a feature of public debate.\u2019<\/p>\n

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A silver-cheeked toadfish after being caught by fishermen on the southern Greek island of Crete (Picture: INTIME NEWS via AP) Toxic fish with human-like teeth are invading Greece just as tourist season gets into full swing. The silver-cheeked toadfish is a torpedo-shaped species with distinguished, razor sharp teeth. In addition to having a vicious bite, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[25041,29680,29042,395,52568,23398,9400,6089,813],"class_list":["post-357268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-fish","tag-greece","tag-invading","tag-news","tag-razor","tag-sharp","tag-teeth","tag-toxic","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t