Oren Klein
AN INVASIVE pufferfish is causing havoc for Mediterranean fishers, and the toxin it carries is turning up in native shellfish.
The silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus, pictured) is native to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It has thrived in the Mediterranean since arriving this century, apparently via the Suez Canal.
It is a pufferfish, the group eaten as the delicacy fugu in Japan. Some of its organs contain tetrodotoxin, a lethal poison.
But so far its toxicity isn’t the main problem. Instead, the fish bite through fishing nets that cost thousands of pounds to get at the catch inside.
“We showed the fishermen photos of fish and…
