Red Lionfish

Description:

The red lionfish (Pterois volitans) is a venomous coral reef fish in the family Scorpaenidae, order Scorpaeniformes. P. volitans is natively found in the Indo-Pacific region, but has become a huge invasive problem in the Caribbean Sea and along the East coast of the United States along with a similar species, Pterois miles. Red lionfish are clad in white stripes alternated with red, maroon, or brown. Adults can grow as large as 17 inches (43 cm) in length while juveniles may be shorter than 1 inch (2.5 cm). They can live up to 10 years. The fish has large venomous spines that protrude from the body like a mane, giving it the common name of the lionfish. The venomous spines make the fish inedible or deter most potential predators. Lionfish reproduce monthly and are able to quickly disperse during their larval stage for expansion of their invasive region. There are no definitive predators of the lionfish, and many organizations are promoting the harvest and consumption of lionfish in efforts to prevent further increases in the already high population densities.

Habitat:

Pterois volitans is native to the western Pacific (from southern Japan and southern Korea to the east coast of Australia, Indonesia, Micronesia and French Polynesia) and South Pacific (from western Australia to the Marquesas and Oeno in the Pitcairn Islands) (Schultz 1986 Myers 1991, Ruiz-Carus et al. 2006). The species has recently been observed and collected from the U.S. east coast from Florida north to Long Island, New York (Whitfield et al., 2002).

Notes:

Two of the fifteen species of Pterois, P. volitans and P. miles, have established themselves as significant invasive species off the East Coast of the United States and in the Caribbean. About 93% of the invasive lionfish population is P. volitans, also known as the Red Lionfish. The red lionfish is found off the East Coast of the United States and the Caribbean Sea, and was likely first introduced off the Florida coast in the early to mid- 1990s. Adult lionfish specimens are now found along the United States East Coast from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to Florida, and in Bermuda, the Bahamas, and throughout the Caribbean, including the Turks and Caicos, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, Belize, Honduras, Aruba and Mexico.