Lionfish

Lionfish are venomous reef fish with bold stripes and wide, fan-like fins. In this app the group includes the Red lionfish, Indian lionfish, and Zebra lionfish.

Lionfish are easy to know by their bold striped pattern and wide, fan-like fins with long spines. Members of the group differ mainly in stripe pattern and the shape of their fin spines.

Lionfish have brown or maroon stripes across the head and body, with fleshy tentacles above the eyes and below the mouth. Their pectoral fins spread wide like fans, and their dorsal fin has long, separate venomous spines. Adults can grow up to about 45 centimetres.

Lionfish are native to the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, living around the edges of shallow coral reefs, lagoons, and rocky bottoms. They can also live in murky inshore water and harbours, from shallow depths down to past 100 metres.

Lionfish are territorial and can act aggressively toward other reef fish, and even toward divers. They rest during the day and hunt most actively in the morning.

Lionfish eat mostly small fish, invertebrates, and molluscs. They use fine control of their swimming to line up prey head-first before swallowing it whole.

Female lionfish release egg clusters wrapped in mucus, each holding up to 15,000 eggs, and can lay about two million eggs a year.

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  Indian Lionfish

  Pterois miles

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  Red lionfish

  Pterois volitans

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  Zebra Lionfish

  Dendrochirus zebra