Lionfish are native to reefs in the Pacific Ocean. Since the 1990s, however, these spectacular animals have spread like wildfire through the warmer parts of the Atlantic and Mediterranean. No-one knows how they arrived, but in Florida the suspicion is that they were dumped in the sea by aquarium owners. Lionfish are notorious for eating all the other animals in their aquaria, and they grow quickly. They can reach 45 cm in length and weigh up to 1.3 kilograms.
They are voracious predators — a single lionfish on one reef reduced the juvenile reef fish population by 79% in one season. They are also extremely aggressive to fish the same size or even larger than themselves, so drive species they cannot eat into less favourable habitats. This means that lionfish are causing havoc to the food chains in the reefs that they invade. In some locations, so many native fish species have been wiped out that the lionfish have turned into cannibals, and are eating their own juveniles. This makes little impact on their numbers, however, as they are prolific breeders — females can release 15000 eggs every 3 days.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
