Majestic and deadly, and also apparently, very tasty!
We tried to eat lionfish while down in Florida but were unable to find a restaurant that had them.
I have been told several times they are a delicate whitefish.
They are on our menu if we can ever find them!
Lionfish are an invasive species that are now almost all over the Gulf of Mexico. Several years ago, they were down in the keys while we were there and the divers were just starting to hunt them. There was a simple bounty on them at one time, but now the chefs are calling them for their menus. I have had several divers tell me that they can make a good bit of money on a weekend diving trip.
Some fast facts about our denizen of the deep.
They can eat 1/2 their body size.
The largest one ever caught was about 19 inches.
They have 18 spines that carry poison on their sides.
They reach adulthood at 2 years.
The female can release eggs every 3 or 4 days, approximately 2,000,000 per year!
The eggs are in a casing that has it's own poison, preventing other fish from eating them.
A single one can reduce the native juvenile population on a reef by 79% in 5 weeks.
One lionfish was found to have 60 juveniles in it's belly.
Are they harmful?
Surely. we must all support the eradication of this species from our waters and send it back to where it belongs in it's own habitat in the Indo Pacific.
Majestic and Deadly, Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12
Day 14 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2018
Florabama Yacht Club had lionfish on the menu not too long ago.
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