Venomous Lionfish Prowls Fragile Caribbean Waters

A maroon-striped marauder with venomous spikes is rapidly multiplying in the Caribbean’s warm waters, swallowing native species, stinging divers and generally wreaking havoc on an ecologically delicate region.

The red lionfish, a tropical native of the Indian and Pacific oceans that probably escaped from a Florida fish tank, is showing up everywhere — from the coasts of Cuba and Hispaniola to Little Cayman’s pristine Bloody Bay Wall, one of the region’s prime destinations for divers.

Wherever it appears, the adaptable predator corners fish and crustaceans up to half its size with its billowy fins and sucks them down in one violent gulp.

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Tagged as: Bloody Bay Wall, Caribbean, Crustaceans, Cuba, Divers, Ecology, Ecosystems, Fish, Hispaniola, Indian Ocean, Lionfish, Little Cayman, Native Species, Pacific Ocean, Predators, Red Lionfish, Venemous Species, Venemous Spikes

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