Hazardous Mediterranean Fish.

[Diplodus Sargus]

Tatanka are you a nurse or something like that because i can see that you are using technical words in your explanation reagding the stingray!

[Tatanka]

Tatanka are you a nurse or something like that because i can see that you are using technical words in your explanation reagding the stingray!

Dipolus sargus no I am not a nurse & niether work in healthcare  . Unfortunatly I went through the pain  when my brother in law was fishing with me and he had hooked a double weever (Tracna) & they were a very nice size. He was new at fishing & I had allready warned him before we dropped the hooks in the sea with the possibility of catching a Tracna  & to not bring it on the boat without warning. Anyway he was too excited as they were giving him a fight so he brought them on board ,they landed just beside my feet & one hit my back apart from the third hook also in the shoulder. So that is why I mentioned the medical traetment if not sure about any tech words in the post do not worry let me know & i will help.

Hmmmm    you mentioned stingray! The post was for the weever & scorpion fish. Altough I would imagine it would be similar treatment for the stingray. 

[Arti2]

Scorpionfish.

The scorpionfish are a family (Scorpaenidae) of mostly marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As the name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp spines coated with venomous mucus.

The family is a large one, with hundreds of members. But there are five species that are commonly encountered or caught in maltese waters.

General characteristics of family members include a compressed body, ridges and/or spines on the head, one or two spines on the operculum, and three to five spines on the preopercle. The dorsal fin will have 11 to 17 spines, often long and separated from each other, and the pectoral fins will be well-developed, with 11 to 25 rays. The spines of the dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins all have venom glands at their bases.

Most species are bottom-dwellers that feed on crustaceans and smaller fish. Most species inhabit shallow waters, but a few live as deep as 2,200 metres (7,200 ft).
Most Scorpionfish,  wait in disguise for prey to pass them by before swallowing. Scorpionfish feed by opening their mouth, then their gills a fraction of a second apart, creating suction.

Although it hurts being stung by a scorpionfish ,the venom loses its effect after some hours. However it depends on how a person is stung. On rare occasions spines can split under the skin.
While catching them (fishing and spearfishing) it is better to hold them by their mouth.
The following are some species encountered in our waters.

Maltese:-Skorfna Sewda
English:-Black Scorpionfish
Italian:-Scorfano Nero
Latin:-Scorpaena porcus

This small-scaled scorpion fish possesses over 60 very minute scales on the lateral line. Above each eye there is a developed tentacle. The second to fifth dorsal spines are nearly equal and the abdominal ray is as long as the second dorsal or even slightly longer. The colour is bright / grey and blotched heavily and irregularly with black. The abdomen is greyish. The length is from 15 to 25 cms.

It is common among rocks and algae. Feeds on small fishes (gobies, blennies), crustaceans and other invertebrates.

[Arti2]

Maltese:-Skorfna Hamra, Cippullazza.
English:-Largescaled Scorpionfish
Italian:-Scorfanetto Rosso
Latin:-Scorpaena scrofa

This fish is known as the large-scaled scorpion fish because it has up to 45 large scales on the lateral line. The head is proportionally quite big. The third spine of the ventral anal fin is longer than the third. The colour varies from bright red to reddish / brown. The dorsal rays often show black blotches and it is these spines which usually contain the integumentary venom spinal glands. They have to be handled with extreme case. Their size varies between 25 and 50 cms.
It is solitary and sedentary over rocky, sandy or muddy bottoms. Feeds on fishes, crustaceans and mollusks.

[Arti2]

Maltese:-Skorfna Tat-Tebgha
English:-Small Red Scorpionfish
Italian:-Scorfanotto
Latin:-Scorpaena notata

This fish is very similar to Scorpoena porcus but it is rather smaller in size, 10 to 15 cms. It is of a reddish colour. The orbital tentacles are reduced or completely wanting. The fourth spine of the dorsal ray is longer than the rest.
It is found commonly in rocky littoral habitats. Feeds on crustaceans and small fishes.

[Arti2]

Maltese:-Skorfna Tal-Madejra
English:-Madeira Rockfish
Italian:-Scorfanetto Squamoso
Latin:-Scorpaena maderensis

This fish has the same characteristics of S.Porcus except for slightly bigger scales. The lenght is from 10 - 14cm. It inhabits shallow coastal waters and feeds on crustaceans and small fishes.

[Arti2]

Maltese:-Cippullazza Ta' L-ghajn
English:-Blackbelly Rosefish
Italian:-Scorfano Di Fondale
Latin:-Helicolenus dactylopterus

This fish looks very much like the comber fish (serranus cabrilla). The head is however scaly and lacks the quadrangular depression in the occiput which is characteristic of the scorpion fishes already dealt with above. It is red in colour, and lives in deep waters of about 200 to 500 metres. The maximum length reached is between 20 and 40 cms.

It lives in sandy and muddy bottoms and feeds on crustaceans, small fish and molluscs.

[Diplodus Sargus]

Tatanka are you a nurse or something like that because i can see that you are using technical words in your explanation reagding the stingray!

Dipolus sargus no I am not a nurse & niether work in healthcare  . Unfortunatly I went through the pain  when my brother in law was fishing with me and he had hooked a double weever (Tracna) & they were a very nice size. He was new at fishing & I had allready warned him before we dropped the hooks in the sea with the possibility of catching a Tracna  & to not bring it on the boat without warning. Anyway he was too excited as they were giving him a fight so he brought them on board ,they landed just beside my feet & one hit my back apart from the third hook also in the shoulder. So that is why I mentioned the medical traetment if not sure about any tech words in the post do not worry let me know & i will help.

Hmmmm    you mentioned stingray! The post was for the weever & scorpion fish. Altough I would imagine it would be similar treatment for the stingray. 

No just asking you because im a nurse and when i saw the treatment i taught that you were in the job as well.  In fact one time when i was with my grandfather fishing from the boat i ve got a weever and it hit me on my hand. Believe me it is very painful. In such cases go immediately to the nearest health centre to seek for help cause these fish can be very dangerous especially if the victim is a diabetic or has some kind of circulatory problems. It will be infected very easy. In some cases the victim has to take a tetanus toxoid injection but it depends on the case and the fish and also from were it is caught.

In my case the only thing i did was some white spirit and some ice on the infected area. I heard fisherman also say that these kind of fish are more venomous when they are small then when they are big....i dont know but what s for sure is that it burns like hell!

[The_Gaffer]

An old fisherman's remedy is that if you're on a boat and get stung by a weever, urinate as soon as possible on the affected area, probably to disinfect it.  I don't know if this info is correct or not, I have never been stung yet (and don't plan on trying it out!!!)

[The_Gaffer]

Actually for jellyfish stings I use a credit card to scrape away the small sting frills left by the jellyfish and wash away with white vinegar.  Best remedy, tried and proven!!

[bigboy]

Guys as many know i go fishing using gill nets. We always catch skorfon / cippollazz and im telling you i get stung around 20 times each time from the bastards. Actually it stings for a couple of minutes but then its over. I never put any hot water or anything on it. So they are not harmful. (If they were i should have been killed ages ago haha)

[Arti2]

Hot water is recommended for weevers only but maybe even for scorpionfish is good.
Guys this topic is about hazardous fish I think for jelly and other things such as fireworn (busuf) it's better to start a new topic. Even sea urchins sometimes can be of some hazard.

[wahx]

I think its better we see all the fish here and open a topic where to talk about these fish. This would be a reference topic only.

[Arti2]

Stingrays.

A great many species of rays are harmless apart from their excessive size which might even capsize a small boat. A few species of rays are however equipped on their tail with stinging spines, hence the name stingray.

The stingarys have wide, rounded pectoral forming the body disc. Their hind end tapers into a long, whip-like tail with no dorsal and caudal fins. Just behind the origin of the tail stalk they have a lon barbed spine with venom-secreting tissue on the lower side.

Sometimes there are also one or two replacement spines close to the main dagger-like barb. Whenever the tail is lashed around violently in retaliation, the spine is driven into the body of the offending predator and the ray manages to get away in the panic that this causes. Stingrays are bottom dwellers and often lie partially buried in sand awaiting suitable prey to approach on its own, but they can also perform bursts of powerful swimming action when necessary.

The flesh of stingrays is edible, but rather poor in taste unless it is enriched with the right herbs and spices.

Stingrays are propelled by motion of their large pectoral fins (commonly mistaken as "wings"). Their stinger is a razor-sharp, barbed, or serrated cartilaginous spine which grows from the ray's whip-like tail (like a fingernail), and can grow as long as 37 cm (about 14.6 inches). On the underside of the spine are two grooves containing venom-secreting glandular tissue. The entire spine is covered with a thin layer of skin called the integumentary sheath, in which venom is concentrated. The venom contains the enzymes 5-nucleotidase and phosphodiesterase which breakdown and kill cells; and the neurotransmitter serotonin which provokes smooth-muscle contractions.This gives them their common name of stingrays (a compound of "sting" and "ray") but the name can also be used to refer to any poisonous ray.

There are three species of stingray that can be caught in our sea.

Maltese:-Boll Vjola
English:-Pelagic stingray
Italian:-Trigone Viola
Latin:-Pteroplatytrygon violacea

The pelagic stingray is distinguished by a broad, wedge-shaped pectoral fin disc, wider than it is long, with a broadly rounded anterior margin and snout. The eyes are small and do not protrude below the body. The tail is whip-like and longer than the disc, with a long lower caudal fin fold ending far in front of the tail tip. There is no upper fin fold or dorsal thorns. The tail has a single, extremely long, venomous stinging spine. Its teeth have a single pointed cusp, numbering 25-34 files in the upper jaw and 25-31 files in the lower, and are sexually dimorphic with the teeth of the male being longer and sharper. Unlike most stingrays, the teeth of the pelagic stingray are adapted for cutting, not crushing. There is a row of 10-12 fleshy papillae on the bottom of the mouth. Large individuals are covered with dermal denticles dorsally but not ventrally; this species has three distinct types of denticles. The coloration is a uniform dark purple to blue-green above, and slightly lighter to lead grey below. Some accounts describe a thick black mucus covering the body, which is exuded as a result of handling after capture.The maximum recorded sizes are from a captive growth experiment conducted from 1995-2000, in which a male grew to 68 cm across and 12 kg, and a female to 94 cm across and 49 kg.
The maximum known length is 160 cm.

Pelagic stingrays are active predators, sometimes moving prey into their mouths with their pectoral fins. Their diet is composed primarily of planktonic euphausiids and amphipods, while they also take jellyfish, squid, octopus, shrimp, and small bony fish such as herring and mackerel.

Generally, pelagic stingrays are of little commercial value; their meat and cartilage is sometimes utilized. They are often caught as by-catch of pelagic tuna (and shark) longlines and gillnets, as well as in purse-seines and bottom trawls.The species is evaluated as of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, although it is yet unclear whether the positive trend in its numbers results from an actual increase in its abundance or the discovery of new populations. The long, serrated spine of this stingray is potentially dangerous to humans. There are at least two fatalities attributed to this species: one case in which a crewman aboard a longline tuna boat was impaled by a stingray that had been brought aboard, and another case where a crewman died from tetanus several days after being stung.

[Arti2]

Maltese:-Boll Komuni
English:-Common Stingray
Italian:-Pastinaca (Traona)
Latin:-Dasyatis pastinaca

This fish is nearly quadranglar in shape, in front it is pointed and posteriorly more round, here it tapers into a tail which is as long as the whole body. The tail is equipped in its middle aspect with a prominent serrated poisonous spine. Its skin is smooth and of a dark / green colour or even near black on its dorsum, whilst wadling in the shallow surf.
It can be found over sandy and muddy bottoms, sometimes in estuaries and near rocky reefs. Feeds on bottom fishes, crustaceans and mollusks. and is ovoviviparous, gestation period about 4 months and 4-7 young are produced.

It swims gently just above sea-bed or lies flat sometimes partially buried, in shallows and down to 100m. It is quiet common and easily caught, especially while spearfishing.
It is dangerous to bathers and fishers due to its poisonous spine. If disturbed it attacks with its spine. The barbed poison spine is a modified denticle that can be 35cm long, shed occasionally and replaced. It can reach a lenght of 250cm and width of 140cm.