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  "path": "/2026/06/27/toxic-fish-razor-sharp-teeth-invading-greece-28946670/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-27T11:04:26.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "World",
    "Climate Change",
    "Europe Travel",
    "Greece",
    "Tourism",
    "Indian Ocean",
    "News Updates",
    "Breaking News",
    "Greek",
    "@rhodos.fishing.ad",
    "fishingtips",
    "pufferfish",
    "fishinglife",
    "fishing",
    "♬ Orbital Rhythms Unveiled – Sassafras Sauce",
    "similar catch program",
    "government",
    "European Commission",
    "health",
    "@lilfangz",
    "crete",
    "♬ original sound – Rain",
    "The Telegraph",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source",
    "@Vasilis"
  ],
  "textContent": "A silver-cheeked toadfish after being caught by fishermen on the southern Greek island of Crete (Picture: INTIME NEWS via AP)\n\nToxic fish with human-like teeth are invading Greece just as tourist season gets into full swing.\n\nThe silver-cheeked toadfish is a torpedo-shaped species with prominent, razor sharp teeth.\n\nAs 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.\n\nSilver-cheeked toadfish (_Lagocephalus sceleratus_) usually inhabit the Indian Ocean.\n\nHowever, the fish are believed to have travelled up the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean, attracted by warming waters.\n\nFishermen in Greece are now getting cash payouts to catch the fish migrating north into the Mediterranean Sea due to climate change.\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\nAuthorities say the fish have not been sighted in bathing areas at Greek island resorts.\n\nBut in recent weeks, the fish have wreaked havoc for fishermen off the coast of Crete and several other islands, chomping through nets.\n\n‘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.\n\n‘They eat our catch and damage our nets — that’s very costly,’ he added.\n\n> @rhodos.fishing.ad\n>\n> You’re seeing this fish 🐟all over social media and the news right now❗️Hopefully, it’s not all too late🤷‍♂️❓ @Vasilis Sakkas Fishing Rhodes the Mediterranean has already suffered so much❗️🙏🎣🔥🌊🏝️#fishingtips #pufferfish #news #fishinglife #fishing\n>\n> ♬ Orbital Rhythms Unveiled – Sassafras Sauce\n\nThe invasion prompted Cyprus to launch a similar catch program earlier this year.\n\nStarting Friday, Greece’s government is offering €5.33 per kilogram for catches of the fish, which is normally found in tropical waters.\n\nIt is the first time that such a measure has been taken in Greece, Agriculture Minister Margaritis Schinas, a former European Commission vice president, said ahead of the programme’s launch.\n\nThe fish – a member of the puffer fish family – will be frozen and incinerated at local government facilities, Schinas said.\n\nHe added that the measure would likely be expanded from the currently affected areas to all Greek waters.\n\nPublic 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.\n\nAn elderly Greek woman was bitten by a pufferfish last week and required stitches to the wound.\n\nShe was injured while swimming off a beach in the coastal resort of Varkiza, near Athens.\n\nThe fish lunged at her without provocation, according to local media reports.\n\nThe Greek Red Cross has issued a public health warning about the fish, outlining first-aid protocols for bleeding caused by potential bites and warning of the deadly neurotoxin in the fish’s organs.\n\n> @lilfangz\n>\n> Oh 😭💀 #crete\n>\n> ♬ original sound – Rain\n\nNota Peristeraki, an pufferfish expert from the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, said ‘if you see it approaching you, you really need to avoid it’.\n\n‘Some attacks have happened when people have tried to feed or touch the fish. There have been a couple of cases of people losing a finger or a toe,’ he told The Telegraph.\n\nHowever, these incidents are rare. ‘You are more likely to encounter a shark,’ he added.\n\nAuthorities and businesses on the island of Crete have cautioned against overreacting to the fish’s offshore presence.\n\n‘The presence of these fish in the Mediterranean has been known for years,’ a statement issued on Friday by 16 medical and tourism associations on Crete said.\n\n‘There is, however, no ‘invisible’ or imminent danger to bathers. Marine predators do not threaten the safety of visitors and residents,’ it said.\n\n‘Exaggeration is often a feature of public debate.’\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Toxic fish with razor sharp teeth are invading Greece in tourist season"
}