King of the sea
It looks like the king of the jungle may have a relative muscling to create an empire of its own. Instead of the tropical forests, this predator is roaming the tropical waters off the eastern Florida coast.
The lionfish, a brightly colored, venomous and predatory species native to Asia’s southern Pacific coast, have U.S. marine biologists puzzled trying to figure out why they, like many retired people, migrated down to Florida. The species is very dangerous – its dorsal, anal and pelvic spines pack quite a punch, or rather sting – which is unlikely to be fatal to humans.
Researchers believe that lionfish larvae may be unintentionally shipped from the Indo-Pacific and inadvertently released when the ship’s ballast water is pumped out. But, there’s also another theory.
Richard E. Matheson, a researcher at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, says, “One of the main theories is that a personal aquarium containing the species was blown off the porch of a home in Biscayne Bay during Hurricane Andrew.”