A toxic invasive species has staged a war against the fisherfolks of Cyprus.

Fishing is the profession for some several thousand people in Cyprus, but that livelihood is coming under an increasing threat from toadfish. The Lagocephalus sceleratus – better known as the Silver Cheeked Toadfish – is the bane of the modern-day fisherman in the waters that surround Cyprus.

Particularly abundant in the eastern region of the Mediterranean Sea due to its introduction via the Suez Canal, the toadfish is being blamed for dwindling catches and torn nets, as fishermen struggle to bring food to the plates of hundreds of thousands of people.

The species is common in the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is a recent Lessepsian migrant into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, which it reached through the Suez Canal, and it is spreading towards the western Mediterranean. It has been caught off the coasts of Israel, the south of Turkey, in Cyprus, the south coasts of mainland Greece, Crete, and Rhodes. In its native range (in the Red Sea) the silver-cheeked toadfish lives on rocky bottoms from shallow coastal waters down to a 250 metres depth (820 feet).

The silver-cheeked toadfish is very similar to the oceanic pufferfish but more elongated and with a symmetrical caudal (tail) fin. Its back is grey or brown with darker spots and it has a white belly. A characteristic silver band runs along the sides of the fish. The silver-cheeked toadfish can measure up to 40 centimetres (16 inches).

Similar to other puffer fishes, the silver-cheeked toadfish is extremely poisonous if eaten because it contains tetrodotoxin in its ovaries and to a lesser extent its skin, muscles and liver, which protects it from voracious predators. It becomes toxic as it eats bacteria that contain the toxin. This deadly substance causes paralysis of involuntary muscles, which may cause its victims to stop breathing or induce heart failure. Fatal intoxications have been reported in Egypt, Israel and Turkey.

Team Maverick