Greece is now paying fishermen to hunt one of the most dangerous invasive species to hit the Mediterranean in years. The Associated Press reports that the Greek government is offering €5.33 per kilogram (about $2.75 per pound) for catches of the silver-cheeked toadfish, a member of the pufferfish family with human-like teeth that's been spreading rapidly through Greek waters.
The pilot project will be initially implemented in the Crete and South Aegean regions and is supported by €1.5 million of European Union funds. Margaritis Schinas, Greece's Minister of Rural Development and Food and a former European Commission Vice-President, called it the first scheme of its kind in Greece, and said it would likely expand to all Greek waters if successful.
How a fish from the Indian Ocean ended up crashing the Mediterranean
The silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus ) belongs to the wider family of pufferfish, Tetraodontidae, and is native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It entered the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, a route scientists refer to as “Lessepsian migration.” “The Biology and Ecology of the Invasive Silver-Cheeked Toadfish ( Lagocephalus sceleratus ), with Emphasis on the Eastern Mediterranean,” a 2021 peer-reviewed study published in NeoBiota, describes the species as one of the most harmful invasive fish in the Mediterranean, threatening marine biodiversity and costing fishing communities a lot of money. The fish was first recorded in the Mediterranean around 2003 and has since spread across virtually the whole basin, including the Black Sea.
Warming seas are speeding up this invasion. As ocean temperatures rise, the Mediterranean is becoming increasingly hospitable to tropical species that once could not survive there, and the silver-cheeked toadfish is one of the most visible examples playing out right now.
