Beware the Hare

Hareface (Lagokefalo) were this year's danger in our seas.

Silver-cheeked toad fish

Known around here as 'hareface' 

    Ugly damn thing isn't it

Has strong neurotoxins and it's bite causes a very nasty wound.  There is a bounty out now, 2 euros a fish.  They have appeared around Poros and have been caught by local fishermen.  They are not edible. 

Their numbers are increasing rapidly.  It's a number one predator and is causing harm to the fishing industry.  They eat large numbers of squid, octopus and cuttlefish

This jellyfish, medusa in greek, is known in english as the purple jellyfish, surprise.  It's sting can be quite painful but not dangerous

It's numbers are increasing and we have been warned

The brown jellyfish on the other hand is completely harmless

You can pick it up without painful consequences

I remember years ago the waters around here were full of these.  I haven't seen one in years.  The same with seahorses.  Our girls when small would sometimes find these curious creatures floating near shore and capture them.  I made them put them back but we did keep one which dried out and is probably in a jar in someone's house still.  

There were sea cucumbers, starfish and sponges too. All gone

Then there's the Lionfish

Lion fish

At least this one is edible.  However,

though their poison is rarely fatal to adult humans it May cause paralysis, vomiting, diahhrea, swelling of the tongue, heart failure, convulsions.............and death

With warming seas they migrated through the Suez canal and  are now increasing in huge numbers in the Aegean

So, how come they're edible.  It's their spines that are lethal.  The solution to stop their invasion is to eat them, so we are told.  

The spines are cut off with a kitchen knife and then they are filleted.  That's as far as I read.  There's a campaign in Crete to include them in gourmet menus.  I'd eat them, if they were served nicely on a platter with a seafood sauce, but no way I'd ever chance my life cutting off their spines with a kitchen knife

Stinging seaweed

In the bay below us there is a seaweed called 'kokotsoni' attached to rocks.  Wikipedia says seaweed doesn't sting.  This one sure does.  I stumbled one day slipping and sliding as I entered the sea, fell over and sat straight down on a rock full of these.  Hell it hurt!!   It's a wonder I didn't go into shock.  Even with a special cream the sting took hours to calm down and I was in pain for at least a week.  

When there was a canteen down there the boys cleared this stuff away from the beach.  I often wonder when I swim there now if it has come back again.  It looks like friendly old seaweed waving with the tide.  It aint!!!

Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile Virus

These mozzies became a big problem around Greece this year even in the Attika area which broadly includes us. They cause fever and rash and can be deadly.  We had lots of warnings on TV news shows.  Fortunately they seem not to have reached Poros, this summer. But we have been warned

Basking shark called  'sapounas' or in greek or a dog fish 

A slow moving filter feeder, harmless to humans. Spotted now and again around here

Another nasty looking creature but this one is harmless.  If you know what you're looking at that's fine but for most people a shark is a shark.  Sharks bite and they're nasty.  I'm not going to swim up and ask it's name.