Numerous people have already been bitten: Aggressive fish are haunting the coast of France
Created: 08/12/2022 10:53 am
By: Anna Lorenz
France's beaches are popular with locals and tourists alike.
At present, however, the bathing fun is spoiled: the warm sea water tempts aggressive fish to search for food.
Paris – It's not as frightening as in the classic screen film "Jaws", but the discomfort is just as great: Bathers on the coasts of France are plagued by sea fish that like to bite.
Reports of swimmers being injured by sea creatures are increasing, both on Hendaye beach, between Biarritz and Bilbao, and on the Côte d'Azur.
Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea: fish bite swimmers - dozens injured on France's coasts
Legs, feet, toes - all these body parts seem to be currently targeted by said fish species.
While other places are puzzling over the cause of a massive death of fish, in France it is relatively certain who is responsible for the bite wounds suffered by bathers.
It is assumed that the attackers are the gray triggerfish, measuring 30 to 45 centimetres.
As the French newspaper
Le Parisien
reported on Thursday (August 11), more than 40 people were bitten while swimming in the Atlantic on Monday (August 8) alone on Hendaye beach.
Gray triggerfish (Balistes capriscus).
© Frank Schneider ib IMAGO / imagebroker
Similar incidents can also be observed in the Mediterranean Sea.
According to the television station BFMTV
, a beach visitor was bitten in the Bay of Saint Tropez,
and a swimmer in the water, which is only 50 centimeters deep, is said to have been attacked near Cannes.
The gray triggerfish has 14 teeth in the upper and eight in the lower jaw.
However, according to
BFMTV
, the bites are neither particularly painful nor dangerous to humans.
Gray triggerfish bites bathers: global warming is driving sea creatures into shallow water
According to
Le Parisien
, the reason for this unusual fish behavior can be found in climate change.
Samuel Somot from the
National Meteorological Research Institute (CNRM)
pointed out in an interview with the newspaper that the water on the French Mediterranean coast, for example, is currently up to 28 degrees Celsius warm - that is 6 to 7 degrees Celsius more than is usual at this time of year .
As the increasing occurrence of the blobs shows, the warming of the water is causing a change in the prey strategies of various sea creatures.
According to expert Benjamin Lafon, the increased water temperature is tempting the animals to seek out shallower waters when foraging.
During their summer breeding season, the gray triggerfish, which are not inherently shy of people, are particularly aggressive, he told
Le Parisien
.
In the past century, the gray triggerfish had all but disappeared from the coasts of France - now, it seems, the biting sea creature has returned.
(askl)
