The lionfish

By Mathilde Sezanne 1

I. Introduction

II. A dangerous predator

III. Invading the US Atlantic coast

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Summary

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• also called turkey fish, dragon fish and scorpion fish.

• native to the reefs and rocky crevices of the Indo-Pacific.

• invades the US South Atlantic coast

The Indo-Pacific

Introduction

• Average length: 1 foot (0 .3 meters).• Average life span in the wild: Up to 15 years• Popular as food in some parts of the world• Prized for aquarium trade.• Lionfish inhabit coral reef from about 30 to 165

feet deep.

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• The lionfish belongs to the Pterois group: he has long, slender spines with small venom glands and a less potent sting

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A dangerous predator

• The lion fish is not poisonous, its venomous.

• If attacked, a lionfish delivers a potent venom via its needle-like dorsal fins.

• It relies on camouflage and lightning-fast reflexes to capture prey, mainly fish and shrimp. When on the hunt, Lionfish will corner their prey using their large fins and then suck the victim down.

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A dangerous predator

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How does it sting?

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Medical treatment

• You need to immerse the affected part in hot water for about 30 minutes. Lionfish toxins, which are proteinaceous in nature, are degraded and denatured by heat.

• Hospital treatment is then used to decrease the pain and monitor for allergic reactions. Medical analgesia, removal of spines, administration of prophylactic antibiotics, and tetanus immunization are the mainstays of treatment.

The invasion

• Population densities continue to increase in the invaded areas, resulting in a population boom of up to 700% in some areas between 2004 and 2008

• The fact that lionfish are able to reproduce monthly throughout the entire year means that this is an effort that must be maintained monthly for the maintenance of current population densities.

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• Not only are they voracious predators that out-compete many other species for food resources, but they also have few known natural predators of their own.

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The invasion

Thank you for your attention

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