Never mind the dangers lurking in the depths of the sea - here's one from the shallows which gave a fright and a wound to a young bather and his family. It was on a beach near Murvey, outside Roundstone. The boy was wading through the shallows to the deeper water when he felt a sharp prick or sting. He saw nothing of his assailant. Now, if near rocks in those parts, you just might stand on the sharp prickles of a sea urchin, which go deep into your foot. Or maybe jellyfish sting at times. But he saw nothing and felt only the sharp sting.
Soon afterwards his big toe began to swell, and then his whole foot. To enormous size. There was no possibility of him putting a shoe on that foot. Fortunately, his father was at hand and in no time he was brought to a doctor. There he was given some antihistamine, a painkiller and a small ice-bag. He was told that he had been pricked by the spines on the back of a weever fish. And the doctor concerned sees a lot of the results in the holiday season. By next morning the swelling had gone down, but it was a day or so before all the evidence had disappeared.
The boy was fortunate in that his father was so alert, for in a book on sea fishes published by Frederick Warne of London and New York, the particular weever fish concerned is described as "capable of inflicting a poisonous wound, a wound sufficiently venomous to cause great pain and, in certain circumstances, real illness to human beings, old and young alike." The more common (and also the more venomous) species is the one our young friend came across. It is the lesser weever, Trachinous vipera, which stays around the coasts, especially where, as the book states "the shallow, sandy seabed is conducive to the breeding of shrimps." The weever fish lies half buried in the sand and snaps at any shrimps that pass by. So, if you're paddling in shallow, sandy water, even on your way to the depths, it's wise to kick the sand before you, to scare them off.
The poison is contained in a sack at the base of the first dorsal fin; these fins are grooved, and so the poison shoots up when the spines are stood on. The fish itself is about seven inches long, a dangerous, ugly-looking thing.