FISH PEDICURE: BAREFOOT'S DELIGHT OR BIOLOGICAL BOMBSHELL?

摘要

Fish pedicure, a practice that involves immersing a client's feet in a tank containing Garra rufa fish (Heckel, 1843) which nibble off dead and thickened skin, is increasingly gaining interest by spa resorts and wellness salons across Europe. This activity may pose new perspectives as well as new challenges to the ornamental fish industry.Garra rufa is a freshwater cyprinid native to the Jordan, Orontes and Tigris-Euphrates river basins and to some coastal rivers in southern Turkey and northern Syria. The species can be found in rivers and streams where it adheres to submerged rocks and stones with its adhesive apparatus beneath the ventral mouth opening. It mainly feeds on benthic chrysophytes and phytoplankton. The observation that G. rufa feeds on skin and scales of bathers in public warm water ponds is linked to its natural grazing behaviour.