Success On A Plate

Beautiful as they are, lionfish in the wrong environment are killers of young fish to an extraordinary level. Help is at hand, however, in the kitchens of the Caribbean.

- Stephen Thorpe

The Caribbean is under attack. Not from pirates or the dreaded zika virus, but from one of the most voracious predators known to man – the lionfish. According to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the lionfish consumes more than 50 species of fish, plus invertebrates, including octopus, shrimp and juvenile lobster.

This invasive species, having laid waste to reef ecology and marine life in the Caribbean for nigh on two decades, has convinced a number of biologists that, aside from onshore habitat destruction, it is one of the worst threats to biodiversity in the region.

Red lionfish (Pterois volitans) and common lionfish (P. miles) are complex fish species native to the waters of the Philippines. Related to the local scorpionfish, and almost gorgonesque in appearance, they have a striking, striped, reddish-pink livery, long wavering fins and an array of venomous spines fore and aft.

Rumours have suggested that in 1992 Hurricane Andrew damaged an aquarium on the Florida coast, allowing its lionfish collection to escape. But it’s now generally accepted that owners of home and office aquaria became alarmed at the growth of the fish over time and therefore offloaded them into canals and the sea.

Taking over

Once present in the Caribbean, lionfish expanded their range rapidly and, in a remarkable progression, were soon established throughout the Gulf of Mexico, the east coast of Central America and the Greater and Lesser Antilles, before infiltrating north through the US Carolinas into New England and southwards into northern Brazil, decimating native fish and crustacean populations.