Lionfish Are Evil- But Have Some Cool Tricks

Lionfish Are Evil- But Have Some Cool Tricks

My boss Dave Troop loves Lionfish. In fact I think he gets super excited about them. So much so that when I came in to work today he sent me a picture of a 14 inch lionfish he found at the Global Pet Show in Orlando Florida. See how his hand seems to yearn for the poisonous touch of the giant monster.

    Well I am here to tell you that these things are evil! Aside from being an invasive species to the Atlantic and reproducing like crazy, I think they just don’t personally like me. A few years ago we bought a little baby lionfish. Perhaps 2 and a-half inches long it has since grown in size and bloodlust. I would say it is now around 6 inches of evil fish. Whenever I put my hand in the tank he quickly swims towards me to attack!   I will admit that it is fun to watch him feed. He moves slowly yet deliberately towards his prey. Then quick as lightning he swallows his food whole. Sometimes leaving a visible tail wiggling from his hungry mouth. I was always amazed at the ability of the lionfish to swallow his meal face first without the prey fish quickly moving away. I have since learned that predator fish prefer to eat prey head first as that will lessen the chance of an escape as well as prevent defense mechanisms like dorsal spikes from being able to deter them.

Well just this week a new study has found that Lionfish can actually blow a jet of water to disorientate their victims! Researchers from Oregon State University and SUNY found lionfish blow pulses of water when stalking prey such as gobies, with an average of 18.5 pulses before finally striking their prey. The jet stream can reach a maximum distance of 9.6cm (3.8 inches) with a velocity of 20.4 cm s-1. Doing this allows the lionfish to completely confuse the prey fishes lateral line sensory system.

If you want to view the full Scientific article click here http://www.int-res.com/articles/feature/m448p001.pdf