Intruder

More and more non -alien species are pushing into the Mediterranean, where they benefit from the rising water temperatures. Local species are increasingly under pressure.

Text: Paula Sträter

During the night there is a robber in the Mediterranean, with his imposing breast fins he drives his prey in front of him and finally sucks it in at lightning speed: the invasive red fire fish. The species originally comes from the Indian Ocean and found the Suez Canal here about 15 years ago.

Today the red fire fish is no longer the only foreign kind in the Mediterranean. In terms of alien, a species has settled through the influence of humans in an area outside of their natural distribution area. If it causes damage there, it is considered to be invasive.

The red fire fish is one of the approximately 500 animal and plant species that came to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. And there are more and more. According to the World Wide Fund for