This flamboyant fish is beautiful with it's frilly fins and hypnotic stripes but don't be fooled by it's looks - it is trying to tell you to stay away! 

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Overview

Lionfish swimmingOrder: Scorpaeniformes

Family: Scorpaenidae

Genus: Pterois

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Population Trend: increasing

Distribution: Native to the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean. Now being found in the Atlantic Ocean.

Description: Red, white and black striped fish with frilly fins and venomous spiky tentacles.

Size: Length from 6.2 to 42.4 cm. Weight up to 480g

Life span: Average of 15 years

Food: Crabs, shrimp, mollusks, fish.  The Lionfish is notoriously unfussy when it comes to selecting it's dinner with some found with six species of prey in their bellies.

Read More: Lionfish Habitats

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