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Friday 15 August 2014

Poisonous & Beautiful: Pterois



To be fair this particular subject is venomous and not necessarily poisonous. But I include creatures with venom in this project too on Poisonous and Beautiful lifeforms.

The Pterois is a venomous and lovely looking exotic fish. Most people know these fish as Lionfish. They have incredible and fascinating striped spines. Some species have one bright colours of the sprectrum. There are many types of lionfish, red lionfish, green lionfish, black lionfish, blue lionfish, ect.

Often found in the Pacific Ocean, the lionfish with fanned spines have large opal eyes and broad faces. Lionfish prefer to rest in shadowy undersea tunnels, hidden among corals, vegetation and caverns. Their wide fanning spines are a dorsal fin spine that must be avoided because of its venom. Also touching the base fins (pelvic and anal fins located under it's belly part) is also quite venomous.

The venom protects the lionfish from predators. It's thought that lionfish are successful because of their physical defences and because of that they don't have any natural predators although some claim to have witnessed sharks eating lionfish.

Humans are possibly the lionfish's greatest predator as lionfish food is quite popular in restaurants. There is a delicate way of preparing lionfish meat to avoid touching the venomous areas. 

More on this venomous fish:

Lionfish Lair

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