10 Reasons Why Lionfish Are Better Invaders Than Napoleon Ever Was

Lionfish have become very popular since they took over most of the Caribbean. Find out how they did it, right here. Maybe lionfish were just sent here from outer space to take over the world...

1. Lionfish are better invaders than Napoleon

Lionfish are native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean but were accidentally introduced to Florida waters in the late 80s. Today they can be found as far south as Colombia and Venezuela and as far north as Bermuda and Cape Cod

2. Lionfish grow faster than all other reef fish

redorbit.com

Lionfish grow to 11" in their first year, that's 2/3s of their maximum length!

3. Lionfish reproduce faster than hyperactive rabbits

blogger.com

female lionfish can release a ball of 10,000 eggs every week, that's a lot of kids!

4. Lionfish are hungry hungry hippos

fromtheblue.co.uk

seriously, lionfish eat EVERYTHING! From small shrimp to baby groupers, they eat anything they can swallow whole. Lionfish don't discriminate against their food.

5. Lionfish are can live anywhere

blog.wakatobi.com

lionfish have been found just under the surface, at depths of over 300m and everything in between. That's a temperature range from 9-23˚C (48-73˚F)!! Also let's not forget that it's pretty dark at 300 meters. Oh and they don't mind if they sleep between rocks, by corals or on sand, they're just way too laid back to be picky.

6. Juvenile lionfish can outcompete large predators

yup, that's right, young lionfish grow faster than their competitors such as grouper. This means that they can not only take the food away from these native species, but they can also eat them. Poor baby groupers!!

7. Lionfish don't have any natural enemies

In their invasive range (Caribbean) lionfish don't really have any predators. Occasionally a shark or large grouper catches a lionfish, but this is fairly rare, since top predators haven't gotten used to these new fish hanging around in their neighborhood.

8. Lionfish are impressive killers

lionfishhunters.org

Lionfish have 18 toxic spines which release neurotoxins strong enough to paralyze and kill small fish. Not to worry, if you get stung by a lionfish, you'll be ok, just put your hand under hot water for 30 mins should do the trick.

9. Lionfish are like professional ninjas

3scape.com

Lionfish don't like to be hunted by divers, so they've learned to hide when they see bubbles to avoid being seen and caught by divers. This behavior is intensified after a fish has experienced being hunted but successfully evaded capture.

10. Lionfish are a threat to marine ecosystems

www0.artflakes.com

Despite, or I guess because of, lionfishes' ability to be such amazing invaders, they are causing huge problems throughout their invasive range. They disturb the natural balance of the ecosystems by eating everything in their path leaving less food for our commercially important species like grouper, snapper and sea bass, which were already in decline before lionfish came in.

What can you do to help save our reefs?

It's national seafood awareness month, there's nothing more sustainable in seafood than lionfish. So go hunt and eat lionfish!! Their meat is delicious and incredibly healthy (and don't worry, there's no risk of toxins being in it). Alternatively, you can support local lionfish hunting clubs or derbies, encourage restaurants to cook and sell more lionfish and just talk to everyone about how incredibly efficient lionfish are at invading our reefs.