Poisonous Lionfish Invade Caribbean, Head Up Eastern Seaboard

AP ^ | Thursday, August 14, 2008

[Joiseydude]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A maroon-striped marauder with venomous spikes is rapidly multiplying in the Caribbean's warm waters, swallowing native species, stinging divers and generally wreaking havoc on an ecologically delicate region.

Researchers believe lionfish were introduced into the Atlantic in 1992, when Hurricane Andrew shattered a private aquarium and six of them spilled into Miami's Biscayne Bay, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Biologists think the fish released floating sacs of eggs that rode the Gulf Stream north along the U.S. coast, leading to colonization of deep reefs off North Carolina and Bermuda.

Lionfish have even been spotted as far north as Rhode Island in summer months, NOAA said.

[Joiseydude]

[Red Badger]

HE DID IT!!!!...........

[Arkansas Toothpick]

That’s amazing that a spill from a single aquarium could’ve done that. They are beautiful fish, though.

[Androcles]

I don’t get your post - can you enlighten me?

[gridlock]

Beautiful but damn nasty. You get stung by one, and you won’t like them quite so much.

[swain_forkbeard]

Bush lied. Lionfish multiplied.

[Red Badger]

In the movie, Deuce Bigelow was house sitting for this guy who had a nasty disposition and a giant aquarium with his prized lionfish. Deuce accidentally busted the aquarium and had to raise $5g to replace everything before the guy got back from vacation. That’s why he turned into a “male gigolo”, actually a prostitute, to raise the money...............

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

That fish belongs in a parade.

[vladimir998]

Good line!

[NordP]

Thanks for the morning smile. Good one.

[NY.SS-Bar9]

You get stung by one, and you won’t like them quite so much.

Think: "hundreds of tiny shards of broken glass under my skin"

[theDentist]

From http://sabudiprasetyo.blogspot.com/2007/02/lionfish.html The severity of an envenomation event may depend on the species and the size of the lionfish. The predominate effects of the lionfish venom are severe pain and swelling (edema) in the area around the wound. Other systematic responses such as nausea, dizziness, muscle weakness, shortness of breath, hypotension, and headache have been recorded either from the venom or as a reaction to level of pain.

In a series of 101 documented cases of captive lionfish envenomations in the US, the following effects were reported (Gallagher, 2001):
92% of patients experienced local pain
60% of patients experienced edema
13% of patients experienced systematic symptoms
1% of patients experienced tissue necrosis
0% of patients experienced death

C'mon, we're not trying swimmers!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

It’s Bush’s fault.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Lionfish, and Tiger Sharks, and Polar Bears! Oh my!

[Ghengis]

Weren't those the fish in Vincent Ludwig's aquarium? Frank Drebin whacked one with a Samurai ink pen.

[Roccus]

FISH PING!!!

[JRios1968]

Bush 41’s Fault.

[ViLaLuz]

HAA HAA HAAAAAA!

[Androcles]

Thanks!

[big'ol_freeper]

Wait until they continue up the Gulf Stream and try to spin off into the waters off of New England. They have a rude awaking waiting for them...46-60 degree water. They’ll turn into blue fish.