Bathers warned of venomous sand-coloured fish

SWIMMERS and surfers have been warned to be wary of the venomous weever fish, which they may encounter due to the new moon and spring tides this month.

The small sand-coloured fish is found all round the Irish coast but only in sandy areas where the water is warm and shallow close to the mean low-water tide line.

It spends most of the time buried under the sand with just its venomous black dorsal fin showing above the sandy bottom. It grows to a maximum length of 15 centimetres.