Lionfish

Photo: 808_Diver · CC BY-NC

Lionfish inhabit the deeper crevices and overhangs of Kinasi Wall in numbers that reflect the wall's structural complexity — their venomous dorsal spines providing complete protection from predation and enabling them to hover motionlessly in open view of approaching divers without retreating. As ambush predators, they herd small reef fish into corners using their expanded pectoral fins as a 'net' before engulfing prey in an extraordinarily rapid strike measured in milliseconds — one of the fastest predatory strikes in the vertebrate world. Unlike in the Caribbean, where lionfish are an invasive disaster, the Indian Ocean population exists within an ecological community that evolved alongside them, limiting their impact on reef fish assemblages.