Lionfish

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Lionfish
Antennae lionfish (Pterois antennata)

Antennae lionfish ( Pterois antennata )

Systematics
Spinefish (Acanthopterygii)
Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Order : Perch-like (Perciformes)
Subordination : Scorpionfish relatives (Scorpaenoidei)
Family : Scorpionfish (Scorpaenidae)
Subfamily : Lionfish
Scientific name
Pteroinae
Fowler , 1938

Lionfish (Pteroinae or Pteroini), often lionfish , rare lion fish (from the English name lionfish ), are residents of the coral reefs of the tropical Indo-Pacific and Red Sea from the subordination of the dragon head relatives (Scorpaenoidei). They are very noticeable due to their large, fan-shaped pectoral fins with long, almost free-standing pectoral fin spines . The color of lionfish is determined by a dense pattern of reddish or brownish and white horizontal stripes and serves as camouflage with the shape of the fish that dissolves outlines. They can hardly be recognized when they stand between acropores , soft corals , hair stars , gorgon heads , feather worms or calcareous tube worms . Lionfish grow to a length of 12 to over 40 centimeters , depending on the species . The name coined by G. Cuvier in 1816 (<πτερόεις) means "the winged, feathered" (but is mostly understood as female).

distribution

Lionfish live in the rocky and coral reefs of the tropical Indo-Pacific and the Red Sea. Some species have a very large range, while others, such as the Hawaiian lionfish ( Pterois sphex ), are endemic to a very small region. You can also meet young fish in mangroves . Almost all species live true to their location, exclusively in shallow water, large specimens often populate shipwrecks. Two of the Pterois species, the Pacific lionfish ( P. volitans ) and the Indian lionfish ( P. miles ), have also proven to be invasive species in the western Atlantic , on the east coast of the USA, from Florida to New York and especially in the Caribbean expanded. Approx. 93% of the invasive population in the western Atlantic are Pacific lionfish ( P. volitans ).

These are specimens that were either released by aquarium owners or that were brought in as young fish with the ballast water of ships. The Indian lionfish ( Pterois miles ) has now immigrated to the southeastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal . The species has colonized almost the entire southeast coast of Cyprus within a year (as of 2016).

Poison

Like almost all scorpion fish (Scorpaenidae), lionfish , with the exception of the beautiful pygmy lionfish ( Dendrochirus bellus ) and Bleeker's dwarf lionfish ( Ebosia bleekeri ), are poisonous. The poison is in the 13 hard rays of the first dorsal fin , in the three hard rays of the anal fin and in the two hard rays of the pelvic fins . There are two longitudinal furrows on each hard beam, the upper two thirds of which are equipped with poison-producing glandular tissue. Furrows and glandular tissue are covered by a thin skin, there is no poison channel. When punctured, the skin tears and the poison is pushed out of the glands. The poison contains acetylcholine , which causes muscle twitching, and a previously unknown toxin. It is very painful, but not fatal to humans. The poison is not used to catch prey, but only for defense. In case of danger the lionfish stretch their poisonous fin rays towards the attacker. Even so, lionfish are eaten by predatory fish. They swallow groupers , flute fish and frogfish or various types of moray eels whole, head first. Porcupine fish chew up lionfish and then eat the pieces.

nutrition

All lionfish are carnivorous , the larger species mostly from small fish such as gobies , slime fish , glass fish or cardinalfish . Smaller species mainly eat small crustaceans . Young cephalopods are also eaten. The prey is usually cornered with the widely spread pectoral fins and then sucked in by suddenly opening and pulling the mouth forward. Often several specimens hunt together and circle small schools of prey. With fin signals, they encourage lionfish of other species to hunt with them. They divide up the booty fairly.

Reproduction

Zebra pygmy lionfish ( Dendrochirus zebra )

The reproduction of lionfish has so far only been known from observing dendrochirus in the wild and in the aquarium. Shortfin pygmy lionfish ( Dendrochirus brachypterus ) live in groups with one dominant male and several smaller males and females. The zebra pygmy lionfish ( Dendrochirus zebra ) lives solitary and only meets conspecifics at certain rendezvous places. The courtship begins after the males have fought each other violently and rivals have driven out of the territory, after sunset. The males should turn dark during courtship, females light. The belly of females ready to spawn is swollen and silvery in color. To spawn, the partners swim to the surface of the water, lie on their side and at the same time eject eggs and seeds. The 2,000 to 15,000 eggs hang together in a gelatinous mass and float freely in the water. The larvae hatch after 24 to 36 hours with a length of 1–1.5 millimeters. After four days, their pectoral fins have grown significantly and the animals start to eat. With a length of one centimeter, the fish move on to a hidden life in rock and coral reefs. Young lionfish often have eye spots on their fins.

Systematics

Bluefin lionfish ( Parapterois heterura )
Indian lionfish
( Pterois miles )
Radiant
( Pterois radiata )
Pacific lionfish ( Pterois volitans )

Lionfish are sometimes viewed as a separate family , as a subfamily (Pteroinae) of the scorpion fish (Scorpaenidae) or just as a tribe (Pteroini) of the scorpion fish. There are five genera and over twenty species. The independence of the genus Dendrochirus was repeatedly questioned and the species were assigned to the genus Pterois . However, the two genera differ significantly in that Dendrochirus has smaller pectoral fins with partially branched fin rays, while the pectoral fins of Pterois are so large that they can reach over the root of the tail and the fin rays are always undivided. The Pterois species with lengths of 20 to 38 centimeters are usually significantly larger than the 12 to 20 centimeters small Dendrochirus species. In the genus Pterois there are a number of very closely related species that can hardly be distinguished externally, the Pterois volitans complex. In addition to the species that gives it its name, these include Pterois lunulata , Pterois miles and Pterois russelii .

swell

literature

  • Bergbauer, Myers, Kirschner: The cosmos handbook dangerous marine animals . 2008, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart, ISBN 978-3-440-10945-8

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ellen Thaler : Lionfish - observations on behavior and suggestions for keeping aquariums : in Koralle , marine aquarium specialist magazine, No. 25 February / March 2004, Natur und Tier Verlag Münster, ISSN  1439-779X
  2. ↑ RM Hamner et al. (2007): Mitochondrial cytochrome b analysis reveals two invasive lionfish species with strong founder effects in the western Atlantic. in Journal of Fish Biology 71: 214-222.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Frank Scheidewind: Lionfish in Coral , No. 25
  4. ↑ voracious poisonous fish conquered the Mediterranean. Basler Zeitung, June 28, 2016, accessed on June 28, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Dietrich Mebs, Daniel Knob: Lionfish and their poison . in coral , no.25
  6. ↑ Arthur R. Bos, Ashraf M. Sanad, Khamis Elsayed (2017): Gymnothorax spp. (Muraenidae) as natural predators of the lionfish Pterois miles in its native biogeographical range. Environmental Biology of Fishes, April 2017, doi: 10.1007 / s10641-017-0600-7 .
  7. ↑ Oona M. Lönnstedt, Maud CO Ferrari, Douglas P. Chivers: lionfish predators use flared fin displays to initiate cooperative hunting. Biology Letters 10 (6), 2014, doi: 10.1098 / rsbl.2014.0281 .
  8. ^ Joseph S. Nelson: Fishes of the World , p. 323, John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7
  9. ^ Svein Fossa, Alf Jacob Nilsen: Korallenriff-Aquarium Volume 3 , Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, Bornheim, 1993, ISBN 3-928819-14-3
  10. ↑ Matsunuma, M., Motomura, H. & Bogorodsky, SV (2017): Review of Indo-Pacific dwarf lionfishes (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae) in the Dendrochirus brachypterus complex, with description of a new species from the western Indian Ocean. Ichthyological Research, April 2017, DOI: 10.1007 / s10228-017-0583-6 .

Web links

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