Bonaire Lionfish, The Enemy Of The CaribbeanDearest Red Lionfish Species, You really are a beauty to look at and you photograph remarkably well. However, you have a horrendous appetite for destruction. You eat anything and everything that lives near your vacation home and your venemous spines cause a world of pain. So for your big fat Lionfish info, your selfish reef destroying tendencies make it impossible for you to live here. Please vacate Bonaire immediately and take your babies with you!
Word on the street is that six fish escaped a privately owned aquarium and spilled into Miami Florida's Biscayne Bay. The aquarium was shattered during Hurricane Andrew's high blows in 1992. It is believed that the fish released egg sacs that rode the Gulf stream along the US coast. And here's where the trouble begins... 
These hell-raisers will adapt to any habitat that food is available to them. They have been spotted in cold waters, shallow reefs, deep reefs, off piers, on beaches and in mangrove thickets where baby fish like to hide out. These destructors will eat any and all fish and crustateans. They will gobble down fish more than half their size including other Lionfish. They hunt schools of fish by herding them into a corner with their giant fan-like fins then devour them in a rapid fury. They also multiply in a rapid fury setting out 30, 000 eggs in sacs a month. They have venom in their spine, two front lower fins and two back lower fins. This venom makes them undesirable for any predators in the Caribbean.
Since the first sighting of these fish in Karpata, Bonaire on October 26, 2009, 150 fish have been caught by a removal team of 120 dive operators and volunteers. All divers and snorklers on this island are asked to help control these fish by carrying markers (4' of surveyors tape) and tying it to a rock or dead coral as close to the fish as possible. Don't try to catch these fish yourself unless you are trained. Eating these fish is a great way to help and they make a great meal, similar to Halibut or Snapper. Use any white fish recipes when preparing the fish or check out our lionfish recipes page here. They are yummy tasting creatures worth the extra cleaning effort.
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The venom also causes severe pain. Some people react so strongly to the sting that its similar to a scene straight out of the movie Saw. Where the pain is so intense they want to saw off their own hand.