Lion fish is a type of fish that belongs to the family of Scorpaenidae and are referred to as “voracious predators” alongside with Pterios miles and P. volitans which are innate to the indo-pacific area. This kind of fish is also classified as an invasive species because they don’t have natural predators and also fill out and strive for food.

Lion fish don’t have natural predators because of their poisonous spines that bulge out of the topmost part of their bodies which leads to serious and fatal pain for any animal that is trapped by them.

Lion fish also makes use of their spines for active defense but basically depend on their camouflage as a defense. Though, the poison that does secrete from the top of their body are not poisonous to a human being but can cause fatal uneasiness if inserted into the skin tissue.

They can grow up to an average weight of about three pounds and feed on smaller organisms such as crustaceans and krills, and smaller fishes up to 8.5g per day and about 230kg per year living in the ocean.

It is also said that the lionfish was introduced into the Florida coastal waters in the mid-early 1990s, though the researchers and scientists are not sure of how the spread of lionfish started, and it has been discovered that the warm region of the Gulf stream is really helping in their distribution.

Negative effects of lion fish

The negative effects of lion fish are really much and their presence has really awakened much alarm for coastal regions. Though the ecological havoc that is produced by the lionfish categorized as offensive may be known, and the similar species of lionfish may also provide or supply ornamental welfares, recreational benefits, food and other ecological products. This vagueness muddles the use of the influence measure, with its harmful connotation, in categorizing lionfish species as aggressive. Therefore, observations and mindsets of species as either “good” or “bad” could modify through the period and across stakeholder groups of researchers and scientists, with insinuations for the administration conclusions and decisions. The aggressive and invasive nature of lionfish has become an imminent threat to the inborn fish groups, fisheries resources and human health.

Lion fish are predacious and diminish the recruitment of innate and young fishes, which has the ability to disorder the diversity of plant and animal life within the region and tend to the disorder of the marine environment process.

Make sure to check all of our Aquarium Supplies