Pterois: Pretty Plus Painful...
Imagine you are swimming in crystal clear blue water and then a hideous monster from the deep brushes past and inflicts excruciating pain to the point where some even kill themselves because of the pain.
You are struggling to breath, vomiting and can't even call because you are you are writhing in pain you can't catch your breath but when you do you just swallow salt water.
This is the Pterois or more commonly known as the lionfish.
They are usually found in the western Pacific Ocean but in less than ten years they have spread as far as the coast of Florida and the West Indies.
The lionfish is thought to have been in our seas for only twenty years, they have made their way in to our seas from what is thought to be the works of people releasing them from their tropical fish tanks. These elegant, brightly coloured and graceful creatures have nearly wiped out all of the fish in the coral. The hideous monsters can eat tones of lame fish per year and there are millions of these horrid brutes worldwide.
Lionfish will eat invertebrates, molluscs and small fish in general, so mainly all coral fish but nothing will eat them. They catch their pray using their mouth and before the kill they hover around and then pounce at roughly one foot per second.
Do we really what to be swimming with these monsters? I for sure don't want to. I would like to swim peacefully over coral looking at the lovely fish not these fifteen-inch red and white monsters. If you do get chance to see the brightly coloured beast like giants you are probably close enough for them to inject you with a neurotoxin (venom) from three different stations in the body. One is the thirteen spines located in the dorsal fin, another is one to two in the pelvic fin on each side and finally three venomous spines in the anal fin.
The females are most aggressive, especially when they are pregnant or have recently laid eggs. Unfortunately females are especially aggressive all year because they lay on average two million eggs per year.
Think of a hamster with its cute, mini, detailed face. What does it have in common with this two-pound camouflaged creep? Actually they are both nocturnal and come out at night, even though one goes for a stroll in a wheel and stuffs its pouches with Harry Hamster's crunchy treats and another just goes killing innocent fish that don't even recognise the red and white monstrosity because it is so new to the coral.
People however have found another way to enjoy these fish! That is to gormandise these horrid beasts; yes the people in tourist areas say that they are a gourmet meal even if they are a bit apprehensive before, they seem to go down a treat, especially knowing there is now one less lionfish in the world.
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