Colourful tropical fish are fun to watch
in an aquarium or home fish tank.
But what happens when exotic fish are released
into the wild and start taking over the seas?
It sounds like science fiction
but exotic fish invasions are a real problem.
A popular aquarium species called the lionfish
has been found in increasing numbers in The Bahamas,
threatening to displace mative fish
and disrupt local fisheries.
Marina showing a lionfish
Lionfish eats young grunts, snapper, grouper, sea urchins...
and they don't have a natural predator in The Bahamas.
Lion fish spines are also venomous
- thought not fatal - to humans.
The stings are pretty poisonous and painful
if people touch the lionfish.
When the fish is dead it's not poisonous any more
so it's absolutely eatable.
The white meat is almost like
the meat of grouper by taste and texture
- rather flaky, a bit sweeter.
Delicious!
In Asia lionfish have been a delicasy for ages.
Marina showing how to clean lionfish
and take out the sharp fins
by a fish farm nearby.
In 2004 the lionfish sighting was formally confirmed.
In the past 2 months they have increased exponentially
and lionfish can be observed all over
the Bahamian archipelago.
One way to save the reef ecosystem
is to educate people how to catch the lionfish
and to handle it
and to prepair it for food.
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