The Caribbean Lionfish arguably is one of the most beautiful fish in the Caribbean; this Lionfish is also arguably one of the most lethal of all fish in the Caribbean. In fact, the Lionfish will devour its own kind. It kills its prey by injecting a highly toxic poison through one of needle-like tentacles radiating from its round centrally located body.
Scientists believe that one Lionfish may eat all the fish, even its own kind within its range of habitation, in just six weeks’ time. The threat to Caribbean life in the future is real and imminent. No one knows to a certainty how the Lionfish, indigenous to the Indian Ocean, migrated to the Caribbean. Hypotheses have included by attaching itself to a ship’s cargo, by the winds, rain, and sea currents of Hurricane Andrew of 1992. The Lionfish has become a significant link in the food chain of the Caribbean. Governmental authorities permit the fishing of this beautiful fish because it poses an imminent danger to the Caribbean food-chain. Will Lionfish become a permanent link in nature’s Caribbean food chain or just a temporary aberration.
Florida’s Big Dig 