One of the most beautiful tropical fish people buy for their saltwater aquarium are lionfish. With fan-like fins forming its mane, the maroon and white striped lionfish gracefully conceals its poison within the 18 spines located on top of its body. This natural defense can deliver a nonfatal yet painful, sometimes nauseating sting to humans. Native to the Indo-Pacific region where it has natural predators the lionfish has accidentally been introduced into the Atlantic. The most probable way was by people dumping the fish into the ocean after it became too big for their aquarium, or after they realized what a monster it was eating up all their other expensive tropical fish. This same problem people were witnessing in their own aquarium is now causing concern in the Atlantic. "They're a big problem," said Gail Krueger, outreach coordinator for Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, which is based out of Savannah, Georgia. "They're voracious and they eat everything, And what they like to eat best is baby grouper and snapper." Gray's Reef, a national marine sanctuary saw it's first exotic lionfish less than two years ago, now they can go out on any given day and collect between 10 and 20 at one site. As for now the lionfish prefer warmer, shallower water, but as sanctuary superintendent Goerge Sedberry said, "We expect that these fish will probably adapt to cooler water as time goes on." Lionfish are native to the Indian and South Pacific oceans, where fish such as sharks, eels, and big groupers keep their numbers down. This is not the case in the Atlantic, where local fish haven't evolved to be wary of the lionfish. A 2008 study in the Bahamas indicated a single lionfish on a small patch of reef could wipe out nearly 80% of native fishes in just five weeks. With sightings as far as Rhode Island in the summer these fish pose a serious threat to the native fish of the Atlantic. Gray's Reef, which helped organize a lionfish hunt, is glad to be rid of as many as possible. Way's to control lionfish are still unknown, but a program in the Bahamas encourages eating them. "Their closely related to rockfish, their delicious" said Akira Kanezaki, assistant manager of aquarium acquisitions at the Georgia Aquarium. Lionfish are also rumored to be an aphrodisiac in Asia, which is just one more good reason we need to go out and collect as many of these Atlantic lionfish as possible. So this is not only an informative introduction to the new appearance of lionfish, but a request to collect, spear, and eat every lionfish you see while out diving. Use caution and common sense when handling these fish to avoid a painful injury. Enjoy the ocean and respect its beauty.
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