News tagged with lionfish

Pterois is a genus of venomous marine fish found mostly in the Indo-Pacific, known collectively as the lionfish. Pterois is characterized by red, white and black stripes, showy pectoral fins and venomous spiky tentacles. Pterois are classified into fifteen different species, but Pterois radiata, Pterois volitans and Pterois miles are the most commonly studied. Pterois are popular aquarium fish and are readily utilized in the culinary world.

In the mid 1990s, the species P. volitans and P. miles were unintentionally introduced into the Atlantic Ocean and have become an invasive species along the East Coast of the United States.