15 injured by ribbon bream: swimmers are annoyed by shaking fish in Spain

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Not only the Spaniards are angry about the tourists in their homeland, the holidaymakers are also annoyed. And because of quivering fish. In the popular Spanish holiday resort of Benidorm on the Costa Blanca, twitching fish are currently annoying swimmers again.

“‘Piranhas’ on the beach of Benidorm”, headlines a number of Spanish media humorously. In reality, however, it is not about the infamous South American river fish, but about the ribbon bream.

The fish, which grow to be 6 to 10 inches in length, like to nibble on anything edible, including warts, moles, or broken skin. Sometimes even minor bloody injuries can result from the fish’s sharp teeth. On some days this summer, as many as 15 swimmers reported such minor injuries in Benidorm, reported the newspaper La Opinión de Murcia. There are also fish in Mallorca that give visitors a bloody squeeze.

Rising water temperatures increase fish appetite

According to scientists, one of the reasons for the increased appetite of the fish is the higher water temperature due to climate change. This speeds up the fish’s metabolism, making them need more food, the newspaper quotes Alfonso Ramos, a researcher at the Department of Marine Sciences and Applied Biology.

The Mediterranean Sea has been warming particularly quickly in recent years. Benidorm is currently measured up to 27 degrees, in August it was sometimes 30 degrees. (SDA)

Source: Blick