The Mediterranean's warming waters are drawing hundreds of invasive species

ROME (AP) — The Mediterranean of our ancestors is no more.

Scientists say climate change, caused mainly by burning oil, coal and gas, is making the Mediterranean Sea hotter, bringing hundreds of new and invasive fish species that decimate indigenous populations.

As biodiversity diminishes, coastal communities will struggle to make ends meet in the ways they’ve known for generations.

“The Mediterranean of our grandfathers, of our elders, and of the Greeks, of ancient Greece is lost forever. So many of those changes are irreversible,” said Ernesto Azzuro, a marine biologist with the Italian National Research Council's Institute for Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnology.

Scientists have designated the Mediterranean as a climate change “hot spot,” with its waters expected to warm by 2 to 6 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100. Heat waves are likely to become more frequent and more extreme, according to the Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change, an independent network of scientists.

Ronan McAdam, an oceanographer with the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, said a key factor in the warming is that the sea is an enclosed basin and warmth can’t dissipate like in the vastness of the oceans.

The warming waters have made an inviting new home for invasive species like the spotted puffer fish, a voracious predator and the “worst invader,” Azzuro said.

These species are now heading toward France and Spain after entering the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.

The U.N. food and agriculture body’s General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean said such invasive species have been present for decades, but their spread accelerated after the early 2000s, coinciding with rising sea temperatures. For example, the lionfish was first recorded in the eastern Mediterranean in 2012 and has expanded rapidly westward.

“The Mediterranean will be even poorer, even with less species, simply because climate change is really making this part of the Mediterranean, especially the eastern part of the Mediterranean, really unsuitable for native species,” Azzuro said.

Cyprus, due to its proximity to the Suez Canal, was first to feel the impact of these invasive fish. Lionfish supplanted indigenous stocks like the red mullet to the dismay of fishers, who have seen local varieties popular with customers greatly diminish.

Then there are rabbitfish that can devour algae from the sea bottom, destroying the habitat for many indigenous species.

"We know what should be done. We should reduce the use of fossil (fuels)," said Piero Genovesi Papik, a zoologist with Italy’s Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research. “But that’s definitely an urgent matter for the humanity, and we all know the solutions, but of course they require a global and joint vision.”

Azzuro said about 1,000 invasive species have been identified in the Mediterranean, with 800 of them firmly established.

The changes are stark. Azzuro said the shallows of the eastern Mediterranean have lost 93% of their mollusk population. Along the Adriatic coast, once abundant with mussels, nearly all have died off because of the sea temperatures that at times have exceeded 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

From Venice in the north to Bari in the south, “the die-off was spectacular,” he said. “Unless we … find population able to survive through these different climates, the future of mussels is not a happy future, at least in the Adriatic Sea.”

Azzuro said his institute and its partner a few years ago launched a campaign, “Beware of those four,” to raise awareness about the dangers that invasive species pose to human health.

For instance, puffer fish is toxic and potentially lethal if consumed by humans. The lionfish's poisonous spikes can badly hurt anyone who’s stung.

Scientists are discussing how coastal communities can cope. One way is to commercialize invasive species that are edible. Another is to pay fishers to catch inedible ones like the puffer fish so they can be incinerated.

Some species, like the lionfish, have “clear economic benefits because it’s sold at very high prices, especially in some countries,” Azzuro said. But fishers haven’t taken advantage of the invasive dusky spinefoot, whose population has grown significantly in Italian waters.

Papik, the zoologist, said that while it’s “too late” to reverse the spread of invasive species in the Mediterranean, there are practical ways to mitigate the impact.

First is to prevent their further migration by enforcing an international treaty obliging national authorities to treat ballast waters inside incoming ships that may carry such species.

“This is something that is technically doable and that can reduce the number of ... new alien species by 95 to 99%,” he said. Another tactic is treating ship hulls with special paint that thwarts unwanted hitchhikers from latching on.

Papik also said fishing policies are being amended that would allow native species to reclaim some of their number, like growing mollusks that are less susceptible to the alien blue crab.

“In the coming years, I think that the challenge will be to restore, to find new ways to restore the environment,” Papik said.

Fisherman Photis Gaitanos catches a toadfish while fishing from his boat off the coast of Larnaca, Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean, early Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

A lionfish lies on a fishing boat off the coast of Larnaca, Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean, early Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Lionfish lie on a fishing boat off the coast of Larnaca, Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean, early Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Fisherman Photis Gaitanos catches a toadfish while fishing from his boat off the coast of Larnaca, Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean, early Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Fisherman Photis Gaitanos catches a toadfish while fishing from his boat off the coast of Larnaca, Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean, early Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

KUMAMOTO, Japan (AP) — Rural communities in southwestern Japan were struggling to get their lives back to normal Thursday, two days after a powerful earthquake set off an explosion at a mall, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes, killing at least 23 people.

Time was running out to find survivors, as rescuers continued to work in the Kumamoto area on Japan ’s southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Tuesday.

The number of those missing was unclear. The quake left at least 63 people injured, five of them seriously, the Kumamoto prefectural government said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, speaking to reporters Thursday, gave a higher number for the death toll at 28. That came from a police tally, he said, which includes cases still under investigation. Some of those cases may later turn out to be unrelated to the earthquake.

Survivors spoke about coming home and desperately pulling family members out of the wreckage. Some had suffered injuries and were rushed to the hospital.

Thousands of people spent another night at evacuation centers set up throughout the area in gymnasiums and other big spaces. Some homes were still without water or electricity, while others were simply afraid to go back.

Nearly 23,000 homes were still without electricity and more than 10,000 people were staying in the roughly 400 shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.

Concerns were growing about illness, including from the sweltering heat. The Ministry of Environment sent out a heat stroke alert for the Kumamoto area, with temperatures expected to reach as high as 33 C (91 F) Thursday.

Although Japan boasts strict building codes because of the frequency of quakes in the country, some homes in the area are in the older style of Japanese housing, making them relatively fragile.

The most serious damage was at the Aeon Mall shopping center in the town of Kashima, which was bustling with thousands of people when the quake struck in the late afternoon.

The company said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking lot before the explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some people were still working. The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people.

As of early Thursday, six people were confirmed to have died at the mall site among the 11 people pulled out of the wreckage, according to Kumamoto authorities.

Family members of those still missing could be seen wandering helplessly near the wrecked mall, waiting for word, despite the sweltering weather.

In the Yatsushiro area, where a chimney collapsed at a Nippon Paper Industries factory, 10 people were rescued, but eight others died, and one remained missing, according to the Kumamoto prefectural government disaster team.

Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this report.

In this aerial image taken with a drone, responders work outside AEON Mall Kumamoto after an explosion occurred following an earthquake, in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (Koji Harada/Kyodo News via AP)

Firefighters gather at AEON Mall shopping center, where an explosion occurred following a powerful earthquake, in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (Kai Naito/Kyodo News via AP)

Residents receive food supply following an earthquake in Hikawa, Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A person sits near a house damaged following an earthquake in Uki, Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A firefighter carries a stretcher at AEON Mall shopping center, where an explosion occurred following a powerful earthquake, in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (Kai Naito/Kyodo News via AP)

AEON Mall shopping center, where an explosion occurred following a powerful earthquake, is seen in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (Kai Naito/Kyodo News via AP)