The Invasion of Alien Species and Other ‘Stories’ from the Sea

The alien does not come from some distant planet, but simply from the other side of the world. From Japan, for example, or from Egypt, the Atlantic, or sometimes from nearby Greece. And in Italian waters — where everything is already in place and the conditions are ideally warm — more often than not it decides to stay for good: the problem is the impact it could have, especially in the long term, on both biodiversity and our lives

Quick Take — The invasion of poisonous pufferfish in Greece

A fish capable of snapping soft-drink cans in half is destroying fishing nets and livelihoods.

For Greek small-scale fishermen, the invasion of pufferfish represents yet another blow to a sector already under severe strain from rising costs, depleted fish stocks, warming seas and decades of overfishing.

“The pufferfish is responsible for 80 per cent of the damage to the sea”… “The sea is dead and dying,” say the fishermen.

Below: the bite mark of a pufferfish shown in the first image taken from Wikipedia.

Lagocephalus sceleratus has now reached the northern Adriatic: it is poisonous and can bite humans.

Read this article on invasive species in the Mediterranean too

Written on 7 August, updated on 22 August 2026

Quick Take — Behind the mixed fried seafood platter served in restaurants, there are often only imported, industrially processed, frozen and pre-fried squid and octopus

In Italy, we love squid, cuttlefish, prawns and octopus, but our seas do not provide enough to meet demand. The result? We import huge quantities. According to EUMOFA 2024 data, the cephalopod market (squid and octopus) is worth around 780 million euros in imports. Between January and September 2024 alone, we purchased over 34,000 tonnes of squid, mainly from India, Thailand and Argentina. And what about octopus? Morocco alone accounts for 45 per cent of what we eat, followedby Indonesia.

If, on the other hand, you find anchovies, sardines or pink prawns in your fried dish, then yes: they are much more likely to be home-grown. But when it comes to squid and octopus, the image of ‘locally caught’ is often a myth for which we pay dearly.

The real problem isn’t the frozen product itself – which can be excellent if it’s of good quality – but the lack of transparency. Many restaurants, especially tourist or seasonal ones, don’t prepare anything from scratch in the kitchen. They use industrial semi-prepared products: squid that’s already been cut, breaded and pre-fried. The chef simply has to take them out of the freezer and ‘reheat’ them in boiling oil. It’s quick, cheap and the result is always the same…

The ‘local’ section of the prawn and shellfish counter at the Gi.Mar. fishmonger’s in Biassono (MB) only stocks prawns from Mazara del Vallo; everything else comes from far afield and is defrosted, like the giant squid in the photo.

Written on 25 June, updated on 27 June 2026