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 prominent, razor sharp teeth.
As well as having a vicious bite, it contains a powerful neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin, which can cause heart and lung failure, making the fish unsuitable for human consumption.
Silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus) usually inhabit the Indian Ocean.
However, the fish are believed to have travelled up the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean, attracted by warming waters.
Fishermen in Greece are now getting cash payouts to catch the fish migrating north into the Mediterranean Sea due to climate change.
Authorities say the fish have not been sighted in bathing areas at Greek island resorts.
But in recent weeks, the fish have wreaked havoc for fishermen off the coast of Crete and several other islands, chomping through nets.
‘It’s got to the point where we might go out fishing one day and then spend the next three days fixing our nets,’ Giorgos Kyriakakis, of a Cretan fishermen’s association, told Greek public broadcaster ERT on Friday.
‘They eat our catch and damage our nets — that’s very costly,’ he added.
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