Lionfish

Photo: Pierre Pericard · CC BY

Lionfish patrol the Akitsushima's superstructure using their ornate venomous spines purely for defense while ambushing small fish and crustaceans with extraordinary speed. They have become ecological fixtures on Coron's wrecks, filling the reef-predator niche on encrusted steel where natural rubble would otherwise dominate. Their sedentary daytime posture makes close observation easy, but the potent dorsal spines demand a careful buoyancy approach.