Dangers and Beauty of the Great Barrier Reef: The Lionfish

I hope everyone gets to visit the beautiful and awesome Great Barrier Reef at least once in their lifetime. But as wonderful as it is, there are dangers hiding beneath the surface of the lovely turquoise water. One has to be careful of the creatures that they don't see lurking beneath the water, by the time they do spot something, it may be too late! The one I am going to tell you about today is the Lionfish.

Oddly enough the lionfish belongs to the Scorpion fish family. It is brightly colored and can be found in coral reefs in shallow waters hovering in caves or near crevices. Lionfish have poisonous fin spines that will cause painful puncture wounds. But fatalities are rare. These fish have elongated dorsal fin spines with enlarged pectoral fins. Each fish or species have a different pattern of zebra like stripes, which make them absolutely beautiful, that is if poison can be beautiful!

The lionfish can be found in sponge and soft coral beds searching for food. They feed on smaller fish and invertebrates; this is another problem as they need their food to look alive and moving. If the food is wiggling it triggers their innate feeding response. The lionfish hunt in what appears to be groups. They are a rather lazy fish; they just float very still in the water waiting for potential food to swim by.

They can be identified by two large whiskers that stick out from either side off its mouth. The Lionfish is red-orange with black specks. It has two pectoral fins that look like the fans of a Spanish Dancer. They are poor swimmers; and tend to scurry and hop, which makes for very odd sight to any onlookers!

Common names for lionfish are Red Lionfish and Turkey Fish. Their scientific name is Pterois Volitans (Pisces: Scorpeaenidae). They have fleshy tentacles above their eyes and below the mouth; fan-like pectoral fin, long separated dorsal spines. They are found in the western part of Australia, in the area around the Great Barrier Reef.
Almost all lionfish are dawn to dusk predators and spend most of their time during the day lounging and hiding. They hide in caves and covered rockwork the biggest part of the day. But some species of lionfish prefer to frequent open waters day and night; these are called (Volitans). Dwarf lions will hide during the day; however once acclimated they spend much of the day in open view. Juvenile fish of all lionfish species are quite timid and stay hiding during daylight in the rockwork.

Lionfish have venom similar to a stingray and the stonefish which is most toxic. The antivenin is available through the Australia Commonwealth Serum Lab.

Members of this family acquired their name (Scorpeaenidae) from the poisonous spines of the dorsal fin. The sting can feel as simple as a bee sting but it's victims can suffer excruciating pain, such as felt with the sting of a stonefish, which is deadly!

If you are punctured by one of the sharp spines you will immediately feel immense pain, rapid swelling of the effected area, and you will find it difficult to move your limbs. It can cause nausea, breathing difficulties, paralysis, arrhythmia, edema, cyanosis, hypotension, delirium, convulsions and finally you could experience cardiovascular collapse. Even death could occur in some circumstances. Most people do survive in spite of the great pain. The venom in the spines remains active for days, so even when you or the one removing it discard the spine, be very careful handling it, someone (maybe even you) will be its next victim! Several months of recovery may be needed, and if the sting is left untreated it may result in gangrene or certain death!

Treatment:

Irrigate and remove debris.

Immerse in hot water thirty to ninety minutes.

Get analgesia and inject 1 ml. Emetine if available (50 mg/ml).

Get Stonefish antivenin if available.
Provide antibiotics and tetanus prophylaxis

Now everything I have told you about Lionfish certainly are to be taken into consideration, but if you are careful and avoid this pretty but sometimes deadly fish, you can and will have a wonderful time at the beautiful Great Barrier Reef. There have not been that many people that fall prey to the lionfish so put the dangers aside and please enjoy your vacation while in the sand and surf of Australia!