Because of water heating
Fish startle swimmers in southern France – more than 40 people bitten
A gray triggerfish (Balistes capriscus)
© imageBROKER/Frank Schneider / Imago Images
Several bathers and swimmers are complaining about fish bites on the beaches of southern France. They probably come from triggerfish, which because of the warmed seawater penetrate into shallower waters to search for food.
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 on Thursday.
More than 40 bathers were bitten by fish on Hendaye beach near the Spanish border on Monday alone. 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.
Bites harmless to humans and not painful
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. 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.
Expert Samuel Somot from the National Meteorological Research Institute (CNRM) explained to “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.