- Observed since 2003 in the eastern Mediterranean, the hare fish is gradually expanding its presence.
- Invasive species, it is also toxic, even fatal for humans when consumed.
There was already his cousin the rabbitfish (siganus luridus), a compulsive browser of posidonia. Another invasive species also worries scientists: the hare fish, puffer fish or globe ( lagocephalus sceleratus ) which can prove fatal for humans if consumed. In Nice, researchers from the Ecoseas laboratory have observed its progression since it appeared in the eastern Mediterranean in 2003 where it was not normally present.
“It is part of the Lessepsian species, of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the engineer who built the Suez Canal. This is the route taken by specimens from the Red Sea to settle in the Mediterranean. A phenomenon due to the warming of the water, ”explains Virginie Raybaud, lecturer attached to this laboratory at the University of the Côte d'Azur.
Like Japanese fugu, it contains a formidable fish
And if the "rabbit" has the annoying tendency to ravage the Posidonia meadows, a true fish nursery, the "hare", in addition to being a formidable predator who decimates other species, therefore contains a formidable poison. "Like fugu, known in Japan, it contains tetrodotoxin in its liver and in its flesh which is not destroyed during cooking," specifies the specialist. Deaths have already been reported in Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Greece. "
Observed in Algeria in 2013 and in Spain in 2014, the species continues to move north. In 2016, specimens of lagocephalus sceleratus were seen in Calabria . "We do not know exactly when it will be on our shores but, before 2050, it is a certainty", points Virginie Raybaud. It will all depend on the speed at which the water in the Mediterranean continues to heat up.
“In fifteen years, we have already noted an increase of 0.8 ° C. The warming is faster than for the oceans, notes Jean-Pierre Gattuso, director of research at the CNRS, based at the Oceanological Observatory of Villefranche-sur-Mer. And according to the most pessimistic scenarios, the temperature will rise again by 3.2 ° C by 2100. ”Enough to make this hare fish thrive.
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