Some of the beachgoers who spoke to BBC News NI on Portrush’s West Strand have had some unfortunate first-hand experience with the stinging fish.
Eve Curry was on the receiving end last year while taking a surfing lesson.
“It really, really hurt, it felt like a line of pain through the bottom of my foot,” she said.
“At first I didn’t really notice it because I was in the water, so I thought I was just imagining it but then it got worse and when we started to come out of the water I was like: ‘There’s something wrong, I’ve stepped on something.'”
Eve said her initial thought was it was a jellyfish sting but when she told her surfing instructor they told her that she had stepped on a weever fish.
She was then taken to the lifeguard hut and submerged her foot in hot water for 20 minutes.
Eve said it was “quite sore” but because she noticed it so quickly and did not have to walk far for assistance, she “probably didn’t get the full experience”.
While she didn’t know what a weever fish was before her painful introduction, she has since looked them up and thinks they’re “quite cute in a way”.