A venomous, ornately finned reef fish, beautiful in its native Pacific and devastating as an Atlantic invader.
Where it lives
Lionfish are native to the warm Indo-Pacific from East Africa across to Polynesia. Aquarium releases established invasive populations across the western Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico from the 1990s onward. They occupy reefs, ledges, and mangrove edges from the surface to 300 m.
How to recognise it
A spectacular fish marked with bold reddish-brown and white vertical bars. Enormous, fan-like pectoral fins and a sweeping array of long dorsal, anal, and pelvic fin spines give it a feathered silhouette. Eighteen dorsal-fin venomous spines deliver a painful sting.
Diet & behavior
Lionfish hunt by slowly cornering prey against substrate with their fanned pectorals, then engulfing them with explosive suction. They eat almost any small fish and crustacean and have decimated native reef fish on Caribbean reefs they have invaded.
Fisheries & Conservation
Globally Least Concern, but the invasive Atlantic population is a major management target. Spearfishing tournaments and culinary promotion (“lionfish ceviche”) aim to suppress invasive populations.
Find more fish by letter
Lionfish starts with L and ends with H. Browse other fish along the same letter.
Fish that contain a letter from "Lionfish":