Long spine Lionfish

Description:

A beautiful fish, eyes with some details as though there's lightning strike. Also beautiful supraorbital tentacle and especially on this specie, has a black circle at the end of it that looks like a false eye. This is a big sized Lionfish, up to 40 cm. Quite similar to Common Lionfish (Pterois volitans) except much taller dorsal spines, 13 instead of 14 pectoral feather-like fin rays. Sparsely scattered small black spots on the rear dorsal, anal and tail fins. Lionfishes are beautiful to look at but their spines can be very venomous, causing intense pain. This long spines are not used in aggressive manners, meaning they do not 'attack' divers, but used as a defence mechanism.

Habitat:

Tropical reefs, up to 30 meters depth.

Notes:

Lion fishes were unfortunately introduced to the Carribean sea through the aquarium trade and they are creating a major threat to the local coral reef ecosystem - a new study has found that within a short period after the entry of lionfish into an area, the survival of other reef fishes is slashed by about 80 percent. Lionfish are carnivores that can eat other fish up to two-thirds their own length, while they are protected from other predators by long, poisonous spines. In the Pacific Ocean, Hixon said, other fish have learned to avoid them and they also have more natural predators, particularly large groupers. In the Atlantic Ocean, native fish have never seen them before and have no recognition of danger. There, about the only thing that will eat lionfish is another lionfish -- they are not only aggressive carnivores, but also cannibals.