To tread on a weever fish is to taunt a tiger says Adele Brand – and you won’t like the painful consequences <\/p>
Like a grenade\u00a0painted with a cartoon frown,\u00a0the\u00a0lesser\u00a0weever fish\u00a0reclines\u00a0with quiet malice just below the\u00a0low water mark\u00a0on sandy, muddy or light shingle shores.<\/strong> <\/p> Half buried in\u00a0sea bed sediment, with a pretty golden body\u00a0and a\u00a0preposterously\u00a0sour expression, it is unknown to the crowds sunbathing and reading on the beach \u2013 until they step too close.\u00a0<\/p> Weever fish are a type of venomous fish that spend most of their lives buried in the sand.<\/p> To tread on a weever fish is to taunt a tiger:\u00a0inch-long dorsal spines stab the offender, whose foot soon swells like a red balloon. Dunking the limb in extremely hot water helps break down the toxins, but the swelling can last for days. Distrust of the seaside might linger longer.\u00a0<\/p> Weever fish\u00a0are the stinging nettles<\/a> of the sea, primed and armed at all moments for\u00a0heavy-hitting\u00a0self-defence. The sting\u00a0is rarely dangerous, but howls and tears from its victims are testament to its extreme pain.\u00a0<\/p> The venom<\/a> is\u00a0in fact\u00a0tailored to agonise:\u00a0with\u00a0some of the highest levels of serotonin known from any animal, it sets nervous systems\u00a0aflame. But its potency does have an upside;\u00a0it is being studied\u00a0for its\u00a0potential\u00a0to kill cancerous cells.\u00a0And it also gave the fish its name.\u00a0Weever\u00a0<\/em>is derived from Old French for viper.<\/p> It may surprise sting victims to learn that their foe is only about the size of a house sparrow. Offshore, a second, larger\u00a0species \u2013 the greater weever \u2013 wanders, but it is the smaller\u00a0fish that dwells close to beaches, nestled in the sand with only its large eyes and sulky mouth poking into the water. <\/p> They can be found anywhere on the coast\u00a0where the seafloor is\u00a0suitable, although Scotland has fewer records than the rest of the British Isles.\u00a0Unluckily for us, lesser weevers are most inclined to approach the shore in summer.<\/p> Of course,\u00a0this\u00a0fish has a motive for lurking near beaches, and\u00a0it has little to do with\u00a0wilfully upsetting\u00a0humans.\u00a0Weever fish have no\u00a0swim bladder \u2013\u00a0they\u00a0do not naturally float, and\u00a0their ambush habits serve them\u00a0well.\u00a0They spend their days snapping at\u00a0any small fish or prawns that stray too close, but their nights are more lively; perhaps hunting is safer when shags and grey seals are asleep.\u00a0<\/p> With their spines, slow growth rate and cautious habits, weever fish can live\u00a0well \u2013 if still with a miserable expression \u2013\u00a0for\u00a015 years.<\/p> To tread on a weever fish is to taunt a tiger says Adele Brand – and you won’t like the painful consequences <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":38444,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/07\/meet-the-highly-venomous-weever-fish-which-lurks-just-below-the-low-water-mark-on-our-shores.jpg",2121,1414,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/07\/meet-the-highly-venomous-weever-fish-which-lurks-just-below-the-low-water-mark-on-our-shores-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/07\/meet-the-highly-venomous-weever-fish-which-lurks-just-below-the-low-water-mark-on-our-shores-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/07\/meet-the-highly-venomous-weever-fish-which-lurks-just-below-the-low-water-mark-on-our-shores-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/07\/meet-the-highly-venomous-weever-fish-which-lurks-just-below-the-low-water-mark-on-our-shores-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/07\/meet-the-highly-venomous-weever-fish-which-lurks-just-below-the-low-water-mark-on-our-shores-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/07\/meet-the-highly-venomous-weever-fish-which-lurks-just-below-the-low-water-mark-on-our-shores-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"To tread on a weever fish is to taunt a tiger says Adele Brand - and you won't like the painful consequences","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/38443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What are weever fish?<\/h2>
How painful are weever fish stings<\/h2>
How big are weever fish?<\/h2>
How do weever fish hunt their prey?<\/h2>
How long do weever fish live?<\/h2>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"