LESSER WEEVER FISH
Watch out for the little fish that fell giants.
By Susanne Masters
WILDLIFE
Excruciatingly painful. Getting stung by a lesser weever fish (Echiichthys vipera) isn’t a great start or finish for a swim, though it is an effective defence for a fish that is only about 15cm long. I remember walking into the sea thinking I could feel something sharp and not quite putting my foot down. Within a minute my foot hurt, after swimming I hobbled home, had a day with a curiously numb foot and a few weeks with a mark left on its sole. A friend who surfs said I must have stood on a weever fish but got off lightly by not standing on it properly. They had experienced the full-on sting and crawled out of the sea with their eyeballs rolling.