Biting and aggressive: Beach vacationers in southern France complain about fish attacks
Created: 08/12/2022, 17:02
In southern France, bathers are currently being attacked by aggressive triggerfish.
© Imago
Beach visitors in southern France are currently complaining about biting fish in the water.
On Monday alone, 40 bathers are said to have been attacked.
What's behind it?
On southern France's beaches, swimmers are increasingly complaining about bites from fish swimming near the shore.
The bites in the legs, feet and toes probably came from 30 to 45 centimeters long gray triggerfish, which due to climate change and warming seawater are increasingly venturing into shallow areas to search for food, the newspaper "Le Parisien" reported.
More than 40 bathers bitten in one day
More than 40 bathers were bitten by fish on Monday (8 August) alone on Hendaye beach near the Spanish border.
"We're used to jellyfish stings, but this is the first time we've seen the phenomenon," the head of the beach rescue center said, according to the Sud-Ouest newspaper.
Also near Cannes on the Côte d'Azur, a swimmer was bitten in the water, which was only 50 centimeters deep. According to a report by the broadcaster BFMTV, there was another case in the Bay of Saint-Tropez.
The gray triggerfish is not afraid of humans.
© Frank Schneider/Imago
Seawater heating drives fish to shallow waters
The bites of the triggerfish, which has 14 teeth in the upper and eight in the lower jaw, are not painful and harmless to humans.
According to doctors, the only important thing is to disinfect the affected areas sufficiently.
As sea fish expert Benjamin Lafon told the newspaper, the heating of the sea water tempts the fish to expand their territory when searching for food - up to the calves of the bathers.
During their reproduction phase in summer, the fish, which are not shy anyway, showed themselves to be aggressive.
Well taken care of on the go: This belongs in the first-aid kit
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Expert Samuel Somot from the National Meteorological Research Institute (CNRM) explained to the "Parisien" that the water on the French Mediterranean coast is currently up to 28 degrees warm instead of the usual 21 to 22 degrees.
This favors the return of the fish, which almost became extinct on the French coasts in the last century.
There is also a fish that stings people on the North and Baltic Seas - this is also poisonous.
(dpa/fk)
