Fish
Lionfish
Pterois volitans
As spectacular as it is fearsome, its long venomous fan-like fins conceal a species that has become one of the greatest invasive threats to Caribbean reefs.
🗺️ Geographic range
Native to the Indo-Pacific, now widely established as an invasive species in the western Atlantic and the Caribbean.
📊 Population
Not threatened in its native Indo-Pacific range; by contrast, its population is exploding in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, where it was accidentally introduced with no effective natural predator.
Habitat
- Pacific Ocean · Coral reef · Epipelagic zone · Permanent
- Caribbean Sea · Coral reef · Epipelagic zone · Permanent
Behaviour
- Diet
- Small reef fish and shrimp, swallowed whole.
- Hunting
- Slowly corners its prey with its pectoral fins before sucking it in.
- Reproduction
- Lays floating gelatinous egg masses several times a month.
Physiology
- Anatomy
- Long, striped, fan-like pectoral and dorsal fins.
- Adaptations
- Up to 18 venomous dorsal spines, used only in self-defence.
🔗 Web of marine life
Predators
⚡ Its extraordinary abilities
- Venomous fins fanned out to intimidate and defend itself
- A voracious appetite that fuelled a record invasion of the Atlantic and the Caribbean
🏆 Records
One of the fastest documented marine invasions
Colonised the entire western Atlantic and the Caribbean within a few decades of its accidental introduction.
If you cross paths with this animal…
Risk: High on contact with the spines: an extremely painful but rarely fatal sting.
Behaviour: Not very wary, lets divers approach.
Advice: Never touch — even a dead specimen can still inject venom.
💡 Did you know?
- Accidentally introduced to the Atlantic, it became a major invasive species with no natural predator.
- A single female can lay tens of thousands of eggs per spawning.