Back in 1985, a lone lionfish was first spotted off the Florida coast, possibly dumped into the ocean by a dissatisfied aquarium owner. At the time, it seemed harmless enough: a colorful fish native to Indonesia that had somehow made its way over here.
No one could have imagined the disaster that would follow.
Thirty years later, the venomous lionfish has conquered the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico wreaking havoc on ecosystems up and down the coast. Unlike in its native Pacific habitats, there are few natural predators here to keep this invasive species in check. So the lionfish has expanded voraciously, gobbling up other reef fish and mollusks and attacking commercially important species like grouper and snapper.
By 2014, lionfish were everywhere, from North Carolina and even Rhode Island down to the coasts of Panama and Venezuela:
Belinda Shared This http://www.vox.com/2014/10/13/6926221/lionfish-invasion-atlantic-caribbean-reefs-hunting-restaurants-derbies
