Weever fish

straightouttabrompton · Joined: 26 Jul 2013 Posts: 87

I went for a quick swim off the beach at Hornsea this weekend whilst I was up there visiting some of my girlfriends family. When I mentioned this plan to them and their friends they were all very worried about the danger of standing on and being stung by a the spine of weever fish. I'd never even heard of these before, so i googled them (I was slightly sceptical they didn't exist and they were pulling my leg) and they seem to be pretty common on British beaches.

What confuses me slightly is that despite pretty much every summer of my childhood including a trip to the sea side somewhere around the UK (with a fair amount of barefoot paddling and swimming), I can't ever remember being warned about weever fish or coming across anyone who had been stung by one. I was wondering if they were really that common? Or perhaps they've become more of an issue in the last decade or so? There were indeed warning signs about the dangers of weever fish down by the beach when I went there but I completed my swim with my feet unscathed, was I particularly lucky? Is it such a risk that you should always wear neoprene booties swimming off british beaches? Has anyone on here had any unfortunate experience with them?

gingerbongo · Joined: 21 Sep 2012 Posts: 1733 Location: Devon

I've lived on the coast all of my life, and have never been stung by one. I can count on one hand the amount of times i've seen a friend or friend of a friend being stung by one.

Was always made aware of them though as i was in a Surf Lifesaving club for many years during my youth.

I've never paid any particular attention to them, don't wear boots etc as a protective measure but at the same time i wouldn't be surprised if i did get a sting one day.

Just don't wee on it! That's another one of those stupid rumours. Apparently you need to place your foot in the hottest water that you can stand (if i remember correctly).

chickenboy · Joined: 06 Jul 2005 Posts: 1657

My daughter stood on one at watergate bay last year. She thought she’d stood on some broken glass. Bucket of hot water helped, supposedly denatures the enzymes in the toxin, at least that’s what a local told us, could be tosh.
We now call her Weeverwoman! with a strong southwest accent Very Happy

SGreg · Joined: 30 Jun 2010 Posts: 1112 Location: High Peak

I was always warned about them and as a child was terrified I would stand on one. I have seen several but never stood on one. I have seen them caught when fishing and skippers tend to just mush them under heavy boots! not worth the risk of unhooking!

It is apparently very very painful, but harmless in the long term. Fortunately, the treatment changed to as hot as you can handle when I used to fish, the Skipper's treatment was simply boiling water as it would be less painful than the sting!

I certainly wouldn't worry about them OW Swimming though!

mattsurf · Joined: 28 Sep 2016 Posts: 852 Location: Zug, Switzerland

Lived by the coast most of my life, and spent a lot of time in the water, windsurfing, Sailing, Kayaking etc. Never been stung by one, and never worried about it.

Also tend to get lots of jelly fish around the british coast, and even though I have often been stung, it is so minor that they really don't bother me, however, people do seem to get very freaked out by them

Just mention on IMJ that there may be Jellies at IM Barcelona to get an interesting reaction (By the way, I have no idea if there are Jellies in IM Barcelona)

SGreg · Joined: 30 Jun 2010 Posts: 1112 Location: High Peak

Yeah UK Jellies are nothing, like a mild nettle sting, but then people get freaked out by nettles. I once dived off a boat head first into one of the biggest UK jellies and it was mildly unpleasant at worst.

However, I got stung by one in Lanza (pre IM practice swim) and that hurt like ~#*$!

Best described as being cattle prodded in the ear! Nearly jumped clear of the water. Followed by a lot of pain and my ear swelling up to 2-3 times its size! Nearly couldn't get the Aero lid on!

Never saw it, but think it was a man 'o' war. There were loads of little purple ones about but no one else I spoke to got hit this bad so doubt it was them!

PhilleusPhogg · Joined: 11 May 2015 Posts: 311

We went to Cornwall every summer growing up and by the time I was 18 I think about half of the extended family had been stung at one point or the other - although that's a lot of trips into the water over the years, so the balance of probability is definitely with not getting stung!

I trod on one when I was about 10 and it was incredibly painful - it didn't help that we were a 2 mile walk from the campsite or any amenities so I basically had to grin and bear it for a while before my brother eventually gave me a piggy back to the campsite, where alternating very hot and very cold water seemed to help a lot (although I guess by that time the venom was wearing off).

It hurt enough that I won't go in at low tide without boots or flippers on Smile