A fisherman off the coast of Heraklion, Crete, has caught a silver-cheeked toadfish measuring roughly half a metre, underscoring the spread of an invasive and highly toxic species across the eastern Mediterranean.
The Greek government has launched a €1.5 million pilot bounty programme offering up to €5.33 per kilogramme for the species in Crete and the southern Aegean, as annual losses for local fishermen can reach at least €8,500 each. A similar culling effort in Cyprus has so far yielded modest results.
The species, Lagocephalus sceleratus, entered the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal and was first recorded in Greek waters nearly two decades ago. It carries tetrodotoxin, a heat-resistant neurotoxin that can cause respiratory paralysis, and its sale and consumption are banned across the European Union. The fish has also been documented as far west as Sicily, where a specimen was caught in April 2025.