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FOX NEWS (New York, New York) 23 August 06 Study: Venomous Fish Outnumber Snakes (Robert Roy Britt)
It's a good thing fish wouldn't survive long if loose on a plane. A new study finds there are more venomous fish than venomous snakes.
The 1,200 presumably venomous fish tallied in a new study come to six times previous estimates. Fish with a biting bite outnumber all other venomous vertebrates combined, in fact.
"The results of this research were quite surprising," said researcher William Leo Smith of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
This might surprise you, too: More than 50,000 people are poisoned by fish bites every year, Smith and his colleague said. Symptoms range from blisters to death.
Watch out
Among the fish to look out for: lionfishes, catfishes, scorpionfishes, weeverfishes, toadfishes, surgeonfishes, scats, jacks, rabbitfishes, stargazers and stonefishes.
Smith conducted the study along with Ward Wheeler, curator in the museum's division of invertebrate zoology. The results are reported in the Journal of Heredity.
Where are they all?
"Venomous fishes are in almost all habitats," Smith told LiveScience. "They range from mountain streams to the depths of all oceans, but the vast majority of the most venomous fishes are in the tropics."
There are also "plenty of venomous fishes" in the United States, but most are "not particularly harmful," Smith said.
Exceptions include a few scorpionfishes in California and the Western Atlantic.
"However, there is always the possibility of introduced species being quite venomous," he said. "And, we have an example of this in the case of the lionfish/firefish, which became introduced in Florida, and now individuals can be collected at least as far north as Long Island in the fall."
Should swimmers worry?
"For the most part, no," Smith said. "But people should always exercise caution when dealing with unfamiliar fishes or known venomous species."
The good news
The study could be important for the development of new drugs. Venoms pack proteins that can be used to develop drugs to treat a range of ailments from allergies to pain and even cancer, the scientists say.
While many creatures have been tapped for drug development, fish remain a relatively untapped resource.
Six treatments for stroke or cancer developed from snake venom are nearing FDA review, the scientists point out. Scorpion venom has been used in a brain cancer treatment.
The new list was developed through DNA studies and morphological analysis of spiny-rayed fishes.
A separate study last year found there could be more than 1,500 venomous lizards.
Venomous Fish Outnumber Snakes

Very interesting, Wes. As a fisherman in southeast Florida, I am aware that there are quite a few fish that command respect when removing from the hook. Most of these are due to their ability to puncture your skin with their fins & causing anything from irritation to extreme pain with the accompanying slime on their bodies. The article tends to make one think that fish such as the lionfish cause damage by biting. Not the case. I have not encountered any lionfish yet, but have released dozens of scorpionfish, which are common on our reefs. A friend who was a captain on a party boat once slipped up when releasing one & had a sore swollen thumb for almost a week. The pain is apparently much like the bite of a crotalid.

We also have fish that can cause bodily harm with their teeth without the need of venom, either when being un-hooked or even afterwards. Sharks, barracudas, kingfish & other mackerels fall into that category. Also, billfish such as sailfish & marlin are capable of killing people by spearing them if allowed to come to the boat too "green".

~~Greg~~

All very true Greg. Some of those species also pose a threat to divers...especially the very cryptic scorpionfish. Yet another reason to keep your hands off the reef. I have also seen footage of a 400lb Blue Marlin (that was brought to the boat too "green" impale a woman through her right arm, chest, and out her back. Amazingly, a silicon breast implant was able to divert the bill of the marlin just enough, narrowly avoiding a punctured lung. Crazy stuff.

Cryptic is as good a description as I can think of for the color/pattern of Scorpaena plumieri. Divers really shouldn't be touching anything down there anyway..let alone bare-handed. Moray eels may not be venomous, but then neither are alligators. Not sure which of the the 2 six-footers I'd rather be bitten by.

A buddy of mine knows of a guy in the Keys who was killed one night by a houndfish, of all things. I believe it was a freak thing..free-jumping, came right across the boat & impaled the guy in the heart. His wife got the boat to shore, but not in time to save him.

~~Greg~~