Little Maisie (4), from Dungiven Co. Derry was at Benone beach with her mother Fiona Lagan when she was stung by a venomous fish.
Maisie had been playing in the water with her big brother Jarlath (5).
However, as Maisie and Jarlath started making their way back to the car, Maisie began to scream in pain. Her mother assumed that she had cut her foot on glass however she couldn’t see a puncture wound, and there appeared to be no blood.
Fiona alerted the lifeguard on duty, who immediately recognised it as the sting of a weever fish.
The weever fish is brown in colour and they have poisonous spines on their dorsal fins and gills. Weevers bury themselves in the sand, only exposing their eyes, and snatch prey as it passes them. At first the sting feels like a small cut, however severe pain sets in after a couple of minutes.
Weever fish
Weever fish usually lurk in warm, shallow water.
Maisie’s mum explained to The Belfast Telegraph; “Maisie was walking up to the car and said to her dad ‘ow ow’ and held her foot. She couldn’t put any weight on it and started crying. By the time we got to the car, she was going berserk and in a lot of pain… she was really squealing and distressed that it was so sore. I went to the lifeguard station and as soon as I said to them ‘she is squealing with something wrong with her foot’, they said ‘it’s a weever fish.”
The lifeguards treated Maisie by putting her foot in hot water, as the hot water dilutes the venom. The venom becomes neutralised when exposed to heat over forty degrees.
Thankfully, the pain receded and Maisie has made a full recovery. The brave little woman even appeared on BBC Radio Foyle this afternoon to talk about her experience!
Not one to be deterred easily, courageous Maisie told her grandad that “the fish was playing hide and seek with me”!
Although this incident occurred in Derry, weever fish can also be found on Donegal’s beaches.
Irish Water Safety warns people to avoid the water for about an hour either side of low water to reduce the chances of being stung by the fish.
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