Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here. The lionfish, also called
Speaker 1: the turkey fish and firefish, is striking with its warning
Speaker 1: colored maroon, brown and white stripes, elegant fan like fins
Speaker 1: that resemble a lion's mane or turkey's tail when fanned out,
Speaker 1: and the seeming mohawk of sharp spikes. But this pretty fish,
Speaker 1: popular ornamental species among saltwater aquarium enthusiasts, has also managed
Speaker 1: to infiltrate tropical waters worldwide, where it's been greatly reducing
Speaker 1: native fish populations and thus wreaking havoc on delicate reef ecosystems.
Speaker 1: While no one can pinpoint exactly how this alien invasion
Speaker 1: occurred beyond the species native Indo Pacific region, the population
Speaker 1: explosion is likely to have begun off the Atlantic coast
Speaker 1: in the mid nineteen eighties, when some irresponsible aquarium owner
Speaker 1: dumped unwanted lionfish into the wild. Never do that, by
Speaker 1: the way, with any fish. It's cruel to the fish,
Speaker 1: bad for the ecosystem, and illegal in many places to boot.
Speaker 1: Ocean currants and hurricanes have since aided the lionfish is
Speaker 1: spread from Florida's Atlantic coast to the Bahamas, throughout the
Speaker 1: Caribbean Sea, and into the Gulf of Mexico. They're mostly
Speaker 1: found in warm tropical waters within a variety of habitats,
Speaker 1: from rocky bottoms to coral and artificial reefs, and can
Speaker 1: be seen at depths of up to three hundred feet
Speaker 1: or about ninety meters. We spoke by email with Alex Lawler,
Speaker 1: a senior aquarist at the Aquarium of the Pacific in
Speaker 1: Long Beach, California. She said lionfish have been a problem
Speaker 1: as an invasive species in the Atlantic Ocean since the
Speaker 1: first sighting in Florida. An invasive species is a species
Speaker 1: that's introduced to a new environment where they have little
Speaker 1: to no predators and cause harm to the native species.
Speaker 1: In the case of the lionfish, with no natural predators
Speaker 1: within the Atlantic Ocean, they eat small fish and crustaceans,
Speaker 1: often the juveniles of important commercial species such as snapper.
Speaker 1: They're slow moving ambush predators, sneaking up on their prey
Speaker 1: and use their large mouths to swallow prey hole. A
Speaker 1: line fish can expand its stomach more than thirty times
Speaker 1: in volume when eating a large meal. It's also capable
Speaker 1: of long term fasting and can go without food for
Speaker 1: more than twelve weeks. As for their natural predators in
Speaker 1: the Indo Pacific and Red Sea, they include sharks, grouper,
Speaker 1: large eels, frogfish, and scorpion fish, to whom they are
Speaker 1: closely related. As an invasive species, it doesn't help matters
Speaker 1: that lionfish start reproducing when they're less than a year old,
Speaker 1: can lay up to thirty thousand eggs every four days
Speaker 1: and can keep spawning year round, which means that they
Speaker 1: can erase about eighty percent of a reef fairly quickly.
Speaker 1: Research has shown that a rapid increase in lionfish coincided
Speaker 1: with a sixty five percent native fish decline in the
Speaker 1: Atlantic during just two year period. Lionfish are also venomous.
Speaker 1: Their venom glands are located within a number of dorsal,
Speaker 1: pelvic and anal spines, and the spines contain grooves filled
Speaker 1: with tissue that can produce the venom. The spines have
Speaker 1: to pierce human skin in order to transfer the venom
Speaker 1: to a person. A lawler said, we've not heard of
Speaker 1: any cases where lionfish sting has proven to be fatal.
Speaker 1: A sting can cause extreme pain, sweating, respiratory distress, and
Speaker 1: even paralysis that can last for days. The venom is
Speaker 1: a combination of protein, a r muscular toxin, and an
Speaker 1: arrow transmitter. If you're stung by lionfish, seek medical attention immediately.
Speaker 1: As with many other animals, the best and safest way
Speaker 1: to enjoy seeing lionfish is to observe them from a distance.
Speaker 1: The lawler said. Keep an eye out for their distinctive
Speaker 1: coloration when spending time and environments known to be home
Speaker 1: to lionfish. Be continuously observant of where you put your
Speaker 1: hands and feet in the water, as lionfish often like
Speaker 1: to rest along ledges and crevices during the day. It
Speaker 1: is legal to keep lionfish's pets here in the US,
Speaker 1: though as always read up on the species before adding
Speaker 1: one to your tank. The lawler said, it is illegal
Speaker 1: to release a lion fish into the wild. There are
Speaker 1: a few kinds of lionfish available for purchase at most
Speaker 1: pet stores, with some of the best species for home
Speaker 1: enthusiasts including the Russell's lionfish, spot finned lionfish, and dwarf
Speaker 1: fuzzy lionfish. While most of these fish have the same needs,
Speaker 1: they are different sizes and will require different tank sizes.
Speaker 1: Being rather aggressive predators, lionfish should not be put in
Speaker 1: a tank with any smaller fish, crabs, or shrimp because
Speaker 1: they will likely devour them. All that being said, people
Speaker 1: do eat lionfish. People can safely catch, cook, and consume
Speaker 1: lionfish as long as they avoid those venom producing spines.
Speaker 1: Lionfish apparently have a very mild white meat that can
Speaker 1: be prepared in several ways, from grilling to blackened to
Speaker 1: being served raw as sushi. The lawler noted that somepla
Speaker 1: is in the Caribbean where lion fish are found, are
Speaker 1: also hot spots for sigwatara fish poisoning, which is an
Speaker 1: illness that humans can get by eating reef fish that
Speaker 1: are contaminated with the sigwatara toxin, which is produced by
Speaker 1: microorganisms that live in the water and gets passed up
Speaker 1: the food chain. As with any fishing or other food collection,
Speaker 1: always consult best practices and local guides to learn how
Speaker 1: to obtain and eat foods safely. The Florida Fish and
Speaker 1: Wildlife Conservation Commission or f WC, has numerous incentive programs
Speaker 1: to entice recreational and commercial scuba divers to harvest invasive lionfish.
Speaker 1: One of the most successful is a derby, where spearfishing
Speaker 1: divers spend a day working together to remove as many
Speaker 1: lion fish as they can, with the largest Derby's awarding
Speaker 1: prizes to the teams or individuals who catch the biggest, smallest,
Speaker 1: or most lionfish. Today's episode was written by Wendy Bonan
Speaker 1: and produced by tile Or Clay or More on this
Speaker 1: amounts of other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain
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