CRETE, GREECE, Aug. 2 (World Daily Times) — Greece is using floating barriers and a fishing incentive to respond to the spread of the silver-cheeked pufferfish, a nonnative species whose toxin can be fatal if eaten and whose powerful jaws can cause serious injuries.
The response is based on documented health incidents and local reports of damage to fishing gear. But the available evidence does not show the fish’s total population, prove that warming waters caused its spread, or establish how many people have been injured in Greece.
What is the fish?
The species is identified in the supplied coverage as the silver-cheeked toadfish, silver-cheeked pufferfish, harefish or Lagocephalus sceleratus. It is described as an invasive species in the Mediterranean.
The fish contains tetrodotoxin, a powerful neurotoxin. The Hellenic Red Cross warned in a June public-health advisory that the toxin can be present in the fish’s flesh and organs. It said no part of the fish should be considered safe to eat because the toxin’s distribution can vary.
The advisory told people not to eat the fish and to seek emergency medical care after a bite. The pufferfish has beak-like jaws that can cause deep wounds and heavy bleeding. Greek fishermen have also reported that the fish can damage nets and other equipment.
What does the health evidence show?
A 2024 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Toxics examined reported human-health incidents involving invasive pufferfish in the eastern Mediterranean from 2004 through 2023.
The study was reported as documenting 198 incidents: 28 physical attacks, at least 144 nonfatal poisoning cases and 27 deaths associated with consumption.
Those figures need to be read cautiously. The three reported categories add up to 199, not 198. The supplied material does not include the study’s title, authors, methods, data sources or statistical details, so the reason for the discrepancy cannot be established here.
The study’s incident count is not an estimate of the fish’s population, nor does it measure the risk to every swimmer or fisherman in the Mediterranean. It records reported human-health events in the eastern Mediterranean during a defined period.
What measures has Greece announced?
Local authorities have installed or planned floating barriers and protective nets in the Gulf of Euboea, including around Chalkida on the island of Evia. Reports describe plans for about 2.5 kilometers of netting in bays around the gulf.
The barriers are intended to protect swimmers in selected beaches and bays. However, the supplied information does not resolve differences among reports about the number of beaches covered, the amount of netting already installed or the amount still planned.
Greece has also announced a payment of €5.33 per kilogram for pufferfish surrendered to authorities. The program is initially described as applying to Crete and the southern Aegean. Fishermen are also expected to receive fuel subsidies under an action plan identified as EU-funded.
The Ministry of Rural Development and Food has been associated with the plan. On June 22, Secretary-General Spiros Protopsaltis said the proposal had been submitted to the European Commission, according to a report of comments he made on Mega TV.
The supplied material does not establish whether the payment system was fully operating, how many fish had been collected or how authorities would dispose of them.
Is warming driving the invasion?
Several accounts connect the pufferfish’s spread to warmer Mediterranean waters. The supplied evidence, however, does not include a climate dataset, a temperature analysis or a study that quantifies the relationship.
That means warming may be a proposed explanation, but the available material does not establish it as the cause of the fish’s spread. It also does not show how climate conditions affect the species in particular Greek waters.
The fish has been described in the supplied coverage as having entered the Mediterranean from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and spreading westward. No underlying scientific paper or government record confirming that history was supplied for this report.
What remains unknown?
The available evidence does not establish the current size of the pufferfish population, its full ecological effect or the number of fishing-gear incidents in Greece. It also does not establish how many Greek residents or visitors have been injured, or whether any deaths have occurred in Greece.
For people in affected coastal areas, the clearest public-health message comes from the Hellenic Red Cross: do not eat the fish, and obtain urgent medical care after a bite. For scientists and policymakers, the larger questions — how quickly the species is spreading, what is driving that spread and whether removal programs reduce its numbers — require the original study, official Greek and EU program records, and monitoring data from the affected waters.
