Lionfish

A Lionfish is any of several species of venomous marine fish in the genera Pterois, Parapterois, Brachypterois, Ebosia or Dendrochirus, of the family Scorpaenidae. The lionfish is also known as the Turkey Fish, Scorpion or Fire Fish.

They are notable for their extremely long and separated spines, and have a generally striped appearance, red, green, navy green, brown, orange, yellow, black, maroon, or white.

The lionfish is native to the Indian Pacific oceanic region. This range extends from western Australia and Malaysia east to French Polynesia and the Pitcairn Islands. In addition, the range also extends north to southern Japan and southern Korea and south to parts of coastal Australia. The lionfish has also recently been discovered on the shores of Jamaica (W.I.) and Panama.

There are many types of lionfish that vary in size. The common lionfish, or devil firefish, generally reaches a size of 30 cm to 35 cm (12 inches), while smaller lionfish, like the fuzzy dwarf lionfish, Dendrochirus brachypterus, are typically the size of a tennis ball, not including fins. In the Caribbean, where lionfish are not indigenous, they grow to up to 55 cm.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionfish - 29.09.2010