Pterois miles

Lionfish (Pterois miles)

The red lionfish (Pterois miles) is common in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. As an invasive species, it occurs also at the North American east coast and in the Caribbean. He penetrates to a depth of 50 meters. At night and at dusk he hunts for fish and crabs. During the day, the lionfish retreats in caves and large coral heads.

The red lionfish has a laterally flattened body with extremely long fin rays on the anterior dorsal fin and pectoral fins. The coloration of the body is reddish brown with a white horizontal lines.

Its spiny rays of the dorsal fin contain a strong poison, which leads to painful injuries. However, his behavior is not aggressive.

The nocturnal animals can be observed by snorkelers and divers best at night and just before sunset.

Demarcation

The distinction from the Pacific red lionfish ( Pterois volitans) was performed on the classic applicable for Indian variant as characteristic eye patch. However, since this color pattern occurs in juvenile animals of both oceans and faded more and more in old age, the existence of two species by some authors has been doubted. Recent molecular analyzes showed, however, that it is at least is at two fire fish genetically distinct populations that have separated million before 2.4 to 8.3 years.