Venomous or dangerous
Fish with venom, toxins or a dangerous bite. 60 fish on EveryFish so far.
A small number of fish can harm people. Some inject venom through spines, such as the stonefish, lionfish and stingrays. Some are poisonous to eat, such as pufferfish, or carry toxins from their food, as in ciguatera. A few can bite or shock, such as large sharks, piranhas and the electric eel. Most of these dangers come from handling, stepping on or eating a fish, not from attacks.
Venom and poison
The reef stonefish, which looks like a weedy rock, is the most venomous fish known; stepping on its spines is extremely painful and can be dangerous. Lionfish, scorpionfish, stingrays, weevers and some catfish, including the singhi of South Asia, also sting. Pufferfish carry tetrodotoxin, a nerve poison with no antidote, which is why fugu in Japan may only be prepared by licensed chefs. Ciguatera poisoning comes from eating large reef fish that have built up algal toxins.
Bites and shocks
Shark attacks are rare and widely feared. The International Shark Attack File usually records a few dozen unprovoked bites a year worldwide, with a small number fatal; the great white, tiger and bull sharks account for most serious cases. Piranhas seldom attack people, and most bites happen when fish are trapped in drying pools or handled. The electric eel of South America can deliver a shock of several hundred volts, enough to stun a person.
Famous venomous or dangerous fish
Still to be written: Takifugu rubripes, Bull shark, Tiger shark, Heteropneustes fossilis.
Further reading
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 4 moreEstuarine stonefish
A venomous marine ray-finned fish found in the Indo-Pacific region.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1766
WorldMilk shark
A small coastal requiem shark found in tropical waters worldwide.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1837
WorldCrocodile shark
Smallest living mackerel shark with large eyes and oily liverShark · Open ocean · 1936
WorldRequiem shark
A family of migratory, live-bearing sharks found in warm seas worldwide.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1896
🇦🇺 Australia and 2 moreWobbegong
Camouflaged bottom-dwelling sharks found in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean.Shark · Coasts and shelves
WorldAngelshark
Flat-bodied sharks that bury themselves in sandy seabeds to ambush prey.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1758
🇺🇸 United States and 3 morePacific angelshark
A flat-bodied ambush shark of the eastern Pacific coast.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1859
WorldSpinner shark
A fast requiem shark known for spinning leaps out of water.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1839
🇦🇺 Australia and 1 moreSpeartooth shark
Rare river shark of northern Australia and New GuineaShark · Rivers and lakes · 1839
🇦🇺 Australia and 1 moreNorthern river shark
Rare requiem shark of northern Australian and Papuan riversShark · Rivers and lakes · 2008
WorldPigeye shark
A robust coastal requiem shark often confused with the bull shark.Shark · Coasts and shelves · 1839
WorldKitefin shark
A deep-sea squaliform shark known for its bioluminescence and large oil-filled liver.Shark · Deep sea · 1788
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Great white shark: Sharkdiver.com, Public domain, source
- Estuarine stonefish: Sir Francis Day, Public domain, source
- Milk shark: Karunakar Rayker, CC BY 2.0, source
- Crocodile shark: Chris_huh, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Electric eel: Steven G. Johnson, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Reef stonefish: Karelj, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Red lionfish: Photo by Jens Petersen , Edited by User:Olegiwit (cloned in part of fi, CC BY 2.5, source
- Requiem shark: Albert kok, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Wobbegong: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Angelshark: RYO SATO, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Pacific angelshark: Chris_huh, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Spinner shark: Jean-Lou Justine, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Speartooth shark: Bill Harrison, CC BY 2.0, source
- Pigeye shark: Tassapon KRAJANGDARA, CC BY 3.0, source
- Kitefin shark: Chris_huh, CC BY-SA 3.0, source