Pterois is a genus of venomous marine fish, commonly known as lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. Also called zebrafish, firefish, turkeyfish, tastyfish or butterfly-cod, it is characterized by conspicuous warning coloration with red, white, creamy, or black bands, showy pectoral fins, and venomous spiky fin rays. Pterois radiata, Pterois volitans, and Pterois miles are the most commonly studied species in the genus. Pterois species are popular aquarium fish. P. volitans and P. miles are recent and significant invasive species in the west Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Mediterranean Sea.
We found one of the coolest, but unfortunately most destructive fish in the ocean… The Lion Fish. We will get into what the difference is poison vs venom in a later article, but for now all you need to know about this fish is that it is Venomous, not poisonous… No matter if it is poisonous or venomous try stay clear of the creature when you encounter it.
I wish these gorgeous Fish were not so destructive in the environment, otherwise I would add them to my favorite marine animal list… Luckily in Sodwana Bay their natural predators live there too so they can keep them sort of at Bay!
While on our way back to shore we still enjoy keeping a look out in all rock pools for fish in case we find something cool or dangerous… On this occasion we were super lucky to find a lion fish. I knew lion fish eat live on coral reefs, but never thought that they would live in such shallow waters or be so near to shore, or could be found in South African waters for that matter, most cool things happen overseas not South Africa… Although I am starting to realize South Africa is a much cooler place than I thought especially when you leave the big cities!!!
Somehow I imagined Lion Fish being much bigger, maybe we just found a juvenile one or they really are just so small… If that’s the case it is scary to think that such a small fish could make such a big negative influence in the ocean!
Photo’s always seem to make these little fish look so much bigger than they truly are!
A few fun facts about this animal and why you should be careful when swimming with them:
- Lion Fish – hence the name – are carnivores… They prey on small fish, practically any fish that will fit in their mouths, but they are not mindless fish that just eat what ever comes into their paths… They are predatory intelligent fish, observation might suggest that they blow out jets of water to disorient their prey and to make them face them – common knowledge these fish have picked up on – head first equals less energy usage.
- There are 16 different species of Lion Fish
- LionFish predators can have been confirmed are: themselves, Larger LionFish will eat their smaller counterparts with no hesitation, make sense with a huge appetite like theirs… Other fish like these also enjoy snacking on Lion Fish which helps keep their population to the right size: sharks, cornetfish, grouper, large eels, frogfish and other scorpionfish
- This is a sad fact, unfortunately in the Atlantic oceans where most fish feel uncomfortable living in, the Lion Fish Thrives! Why is this a bad thing? Well their natural predators hate the cold… Without any natural predators to keep their population at bay, and them being a natural predator of other fish their circle of life has hole in it and unwanted holes are never a good thing.
- The invasive Lionfish of the Atlantic ocean has a devastating impact on coral cleaning and eating fish, without the coral cleaner fish the coral might not be able to survive because there is to much debris for the coral to breath…
- Wow here’s an interesting fact – Lion Fish Stomachs can expand up to 30 times its normal size… Imagine how many fish go into that!
- Now I understand why lion Fish are so invasive, they reproduce all year round, a mature female can lay up to 2 million eggs a year, that’s insane, imagine we could reproduce like that, there would be no space left on the planet to move!
- I guess it nearly impossible to see a baby LionFish when born they are only 2.5 cm long and an grow up to -38 cm long as adults! That is quite small for a fish that has such a huge impact on the oceanic environment. I doubt even a Megalodon Shark (Largest shark known to have existed) could make such a big impact…
- They can live up to 15 years in the wild, imagine what impact each one of them can have on the environment in 15 years!
- When a lion fish’s spines puncture flesh they have two(2) venom glands in their backbone that rush out poison through the spines…
- Depending on how many spines stung you, you shouldn’t be much in the danger zone, of course it also depends on your body tolerance for pain. It mild cases, you will have extreme pain and sweating… In extreme cases you could experience – respiratory distress or even paralysis…
- Scientists encourage fishing for LionFish… Below is campaign that encourages people to even eat LionFish, as long as you know what to eat they are not poisonous, just be careful for their spines!
If you like fishing next time try catch one of these spiny fish and give it a try!
“Lionfish as Food” campaign
In 2010, NOAA began a campaign to encourage the consumption of the fish. The “Lionfish as Food” campaign encourages human hunting of the fish as the only form of control known to date. Encouraging the consumption of lionfish could not only help to maintain a reasonable population density, but also provide an alternative fishing source to overfished populations, such as grouper and snapper. NOAA also encourages people to report lionfish sightings, to help track lionfish population dispersal. To promote the campaign, the Roman Catholic Church in Colombia agreed to have their clergy’s sermons suggest to their parishioners (84% of the population) to eat the fish species on Fridays, Lent and Easter, which proved highly successful to decrease the invasive fish problem.
When properly filleted, the naturally venomous fish is safe to eat. There has been some concern about the risk of ciguatera food poisoning (CFP) from consumption of lionfish, and the FDA included lionfish on the list of species at risk for CFP when lionfish are harvested in some areas tested positive for ciguatera. However, there have been no verified cases of CFP from consumption of lionfish, and published research has found that the toxins in lionfish venom may be causing false positives in tests for presence of ciguatera. The Reef Environmental Education Foundation provides advice to restaurant chefs on how they can incorporate the fish into their menus. The NOAA calls the lionfish a “delicious, delicately flavored fish” similar in texture to grouper. Cooking techniques and preparations for lionfish include deep-frying, ceviche, jerky, grilling, and sashimi.
Our factual sources for this article came from: Wikipedia and Live Science
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