Beware;Stone fish in Mauritius

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After three cases of poisoning the stonefish, the police issued an alert to the beaches of Albion, Pointe-aux-Biches and Trou aux Biches. 

Be careful where you step! Police and Coast Guard issued a warning stonefish on the beaches of Albion, Pointe-aux-Biches and Trou aux Biches. Especially this Thursday, November 10, Mauritians of Hindu faith will move en masse on the main beaches in the country on the occasion of the feast Ganga Asnan, in honor of the goddess who personifies the holy river Ganges.

The Coast Guard said they had seen these fish commonly known as "laff Labou" and "laff koray" on these three beaches and urge caution. The alarm was raised because two children and a French tourist, Alex Lawrence, were victims of the fish between Monday and Tuesday on beaches in the area of ​​Trou aux Biches. One of the children and the French were under observation in hospital and a private clinic in North, respectively.

Considered one of the most venomous in the world, the stonefish has already caused the death of a German tourist in May 2003. The architect Sabrina Mohr, 37, was struck down by an anaphylactic shock, that is to say a violent venom allergy, just minutes after putting up a "laf" in Péreybère, another popular range of North. The presence of stone-fish close to shore may be due to the cessation of sand mining by some fishermen.

When bitten, the person feels excruciating pain to the member dive followed by respiratory problems. The dose of venom injected, the size of fish but also the weight of the victim to the severity of the accident. The poison is a protein, a member must be stitched immediately placed in water at a temperature ranging from 40 to 50 ° C for half an hour.

A handful of fishermen is known to cure such stings: by sucking infected blood and by applying a heated grass on the affected limb. However, hotels have a stock of serum "anti-stone fish" for such accidents. Memory, before the death of Sabrina Mohr, the last fatal case dates back to 1980.

The first case of stonefish poisoning dates back to 1601. The men of Admiral Harmassen became ill after eating the fish caught in the Morne. Which had then earned the nickname Cap-Poison.

Other cases followed and in 1774, the Company emulation of the Isle of France made the decision to make a list of poisonous fish, their effects on the body and their remedies. In 1829, the Natural History Society of Mauritius is created and has a mission to initiate research in the same direction.

Although it is poisonous, many fishermen consider the stonefish as a popular dish, the important thing is to know to remove the poisoned dart. This species is known for its ability to camouflage her skin clearing mucus that allows algae and coral debris to settle there. The danger comes, however, its thirteen erectile spines that are connected to a pair of gland filled with venom.

In Mauritius, some types of shellfish are as poisonous: the Medical Examiner Satish Boolell had reported in a medical article, the case of a 24 year old man whose death, September 28, 1985, was caused by a cone ( conus geographus).Stung by hand when he was ten feet deep, he was seized with trembling an hour later and complained of excruciating pain in his hand. He died at the hospital and the autopsy revealed that he had been struck down by a neuromuscular paralysis followed by respiratory arrest.