Dwarf lion fish. Zebra fish: description, photo, behavioral features

Do you enjoy watching the amazing beauty of coral fish? They are so beautiful that you want to watch them endlessly. Here a lion fish (Pterois volitans) is slowly swimming in front of you, admiring the luxury of its outfit and hiding more than one portion of poison in the spines of its fins. It does not pose a mortal danger like lion poison, but discomfort And serious condition if it gets into the wound during an injection, they are guaranteed, in rare cases it happens fatal outcome. When diving, watch these beautiful fish from afar and do not try to pet them or grab them with your hand.

Lifestyle and distribution

Lives lion fish in the Pacific and Indian Oceans– in tropical waters off the Chinese, Japanese and Australian coasts. Most often, these fish live on coral reefs. During the day, they usually hover motionless in some secluded place among the corals, becoming almost invisible. Only the light long rays of widely spaced pectoral fins can indicate the presence of Pterois volitans. Some small fish mistake the growths on the lion's body and its long fins for algae bushes. When they try to explore this bush, they are eaten.

After sitting all day in the shelter, in the evening the lion fish leave this place and, calmly moving their fins, move to another section of the reef.

Recently (about 15 years ago) a lion fish was discovered in the waters Caribbean Sea, where it had not been observed before. Further, this species began to spread to the coasts of the island of Haiti, the Florida Islands and the Florida Peninsula, to the shores of the Cayman Islands and Cuba. Fans of holidays at the resorts of these places are not particularly delighted with this proximity, because now they need to be very careful on the reefs.

Appearance and all names

The scientific Latin name for lion fish is Pterois volitans and it belongs to the order Scorpiformes. There are several Russian names for this amazing-looking inhabitant of coral reefs, and they are all related to her appearance. It received the name “lion” due to its distant resemblance to a maned lion, if you look at it from the front with its pectoral fins spread out to the sides. Watch the video and you will notice this.

Pterois volitans is called a zebra fish because its body is covered with transverse stripes of brownish, sandy and light tones, reminiscent of the pattern of a real zebra. The next name is lionfish, which is used for all ten members of the genus Pterois. After all, they are all characterized by the presence of unusually large pectoral fins, in open form resembling the wings of birds. U different types There are some differences in the structure of these fins, for example, the upper part of the rays does not have membranes.

Other appearance features

Zebra fish can have different body colors brown depending on the habitat. In coastal species, dark colors predominate, sometimes (in estuaries) almost black. The body is covered with cycloid scales. On the head: there may be growths in the mouth area, under the lower jaw and above the eyes different lengths. The growths above the eyes are especially long.

The maximum measured length is 38 centimeters. The highest age according to published data is 10 years.

The photo of the lionfish clearly shows that all the fins are very large:

• The first rays of the dorsal are spiny (there are thirteen of them), the remaining 9-12 do not have spines, they are soft.
• The anal fin has three spiny rays, the others are soft (there are from 6 to 8 of them).
• The caudal fin is bladeless with a rounded edge.

Poisonous Thorns

The poison is found in the spiny rays of the pectoral, anal and dorsal fins. A prick from one thorn is not life-threatening. Man receives small quantity poison. But the pain that the wounded person will begin to experience soon after the injection gradually increases and can lead to loss of consciousness. The injection site feels numb and swollen. After several hours, the severe pain subsides, but the affected area will still hurt for some time.

Zebra fish are dangerous due to their habit of hiding in the most unexpected places near rocks and reefs. If you accidentally step on it, you can get injections from several thorns at the same time and very deep. If the victim is not provided with timely assistance, the outcome may be fatal.

There is information that if a lionfish is repeatedly injured by the thorns, a person gradually develops immunity to the poison of this fish. With subsequent injections, the victim will experience less and less pain and other unpleasant sensations.

Effect of poison

Zebra fish venom causes paralysis of the respiratory muscles, seizures and cardiac dysfunction. And if a diver receives injections while underwater or far from shore, he may not be able to reach the shore on his own and may drown.

Interesting information: lionfish venom is so strong that its toxic properties persist even in dead fish. It is recommended not to touch this fish with your hands, either alive or dead.

The lionfish is not the first to attack

The lion fish is very peaceful, not capable of developing great speed. And she doesn't attack first. Never. If someone tries to disturb her peace or accidentally disturbs her, then he receives punishment in the form of injections with poisonous thorns. Most marine life avoids this fish, because its bright color is a warning of danger.

A person suffers from an encounter with lionfish only through his own fault and carelessness. Often fish hide between rocks and corals during the day. Bathers should exercise great care and caution to avoid accidentally touching resting fish. And even more so, you shouldn’t try to pet her. It’s better to admire from afar and move on.

If a lion fish sees that someone dangerous is approaching it, it immediately exposes its spines, primarily its dorsal fin, to meet the unexpected guest.

Food and hunting methods

Being ruthless predators, lionfish can easily swallow other fish that are more than half their own length. The objects of their hunt are smaller fish and crustaceans (shrimp or crabs). To obtain food they use two tactics:

• Wide apart pectoral fins, the zebra fish drives its prey into a narrow space (a crevice in a rock or between corals) and there it instantly swallows it.
• Frozen in a motionless position and spreading all its fins, the ends of the rays of which are decorated with small ribbons swaying in the water, it becomes like one of the bushes of multi-colored algae. Curious small fish swim close to her and instantly end up in the hunter’s mouth.

Look at the quick reaction of the lionfish in the aquarium when live food appears.

There is a lion in nature - the king of beasts. There are also sea ​​lion– inhabitant northern seas... it turns out that lions are also found in the underwater kingdom! What kind of creature is this and what is it called? - you ask. This is a lion fish. Photos of the underwater king and description are in our article.

These animals are also called zebra fish and striped lionfish. They belong to the ray-finned fishes and belong to the order Scorpiformes. The lionfish is part of the scorpionfish family, which includes the genus lionfish.

What are zebra fish? Why are they considered similar to members of the lion family? Let's look at the photo of the lion fish and try to figure it out...

The appearance of an unusual fish. Lion fish photo

Striped lionfish grows up to 40 centimeters in length. The animal weighs approximately 1 kilogram.

The most attractive thing about this inhabitant underwater world- its color. There's so much on her different designs and flowers! The stripes come in red, brown, yellow, and bluish shades. When the fish spreads its fins, from the front it really looks like a lion: its splayed spines, together with its variegated color, resemble lion's mane. The lateral fins may have a grayish tone.

The body of the fish has a slightly laterally flattened shape. The lion fish has a large mouth. A structural feature is the absence of a swim bladder.

Now let's learn more about lionfish spines. These are not just once-hardened growths on the skin. Each such needle contains a gland containing more toxic substance. If the lion fish pricks with its thorn, then the wounded person will not be happy. In addition to sharp thorns, variegated colors also signal danger. It seems to us that the fish is painted for beauty, but in wildlife- this is a warning symbolizing: “Don’t approach, I’m dangerous!”

And the expression of the “face” is exactly royal, arrogant and threatening!

Where does the lion fish live?

IN lately this ray-finned fish has greatly expanded the boundaries of its “domains”. If previously it lived only in the Pacific and Indian oceans, now it has reached the Atlantic. She began to be found near the Caribbean islands, near the coast of Cuba, Haiti and the state of Florida (USA).

Zebra fish lifestyle

Like its land-based namesake, the lion fish is a real predator. This sea beauty has two methods of hunting: passive and active. When a lionfish hunts passively, it camouflages itself environment, in which the coloring of the body helps her, and waits for prey. When an unsuspecting prey swims by, the lion fish instantly grabs it and eats it. Active foraging involves intimidating the prey and swallowing it.

More attractive to zebra fish twilight image life, this fish prefers to spend daylight hours in crevices or underwater caves.

How and what does the lion fish eat? Who is her favorite prey?

The peculiarity of eating food is that the fish swallows its prey not by dismembering it into parts, but directly whole. The basis of its diet is small fish, a variety of shellfish and crabs.

What is known about the reproduction of zebra fish?

These fish spawn during the half-moon week. Eggs are laid every 20 to 40 minutes after the sun sets. Males become aggressive during the spawning period and can attack bathing people.

The caviar is placed in spherical formations, which have a diameter of about 5 centimeters. This “ball” contains from 2 to 15 thousand eggs! Subsequently, these spherical clusters disintegrate, and the eggs begin to swim independently through the water, carrying future fry over vast distances.

An inhabitant of the sea, the lionfish immediately attracts attention due to its bright color. Despite its name, it cannot fly. The fish got this nickname because of its large pectoral fins, which look a little like wings. Other names for lionfish are zebra fish or lion fish. She got the first due to the wide gray, brown and red stripes located throughout her body, and the second due to her long fins, which make her look like a predatory lion.

The lionfish belongs to the scorpionfish family. The body length reaches 30 cm, and the weight is 1 kg. The color is bright, which makes the lionfish noticeable even on great depth. The main decoration of the lionfish is the long ribbons of the dorsal and pectoral fins, which are what resemble a lion’s mane. These luxurious fins contain sharp, poisonous needles, which make the lionfish one of the most dangerous inhabitants seas.

The lionfish is widespread in the tropical parts of Indian and Pacific Oceans off the coast of China, Japan and Australia. It lives mainly among coral reefs.

The lionfish is a predator and feeds on other fish, which has a negative impact on the coral reef ecosystem. Lionfish destroy species of fish, which in turn feed on algae, and because of this, the eco-balance is disrupted, which leads to the destruction of reefs.

During the day, lionfish are usually inactive. They hide in caves among stones and corals, pressing their bellies tightly to the surface and exposing their spiny and poisonous fins. At dusk they go out hunting. Their main food is crabs, shrimp, shellfish and small fish.

Standing motionless, the lionfish looks like a bunch of colored algae. The fish that decide to explore this bunch suddenly end up in the wide-open mouth of the lionfish.

Lionfish only spawn in warm climates, and spawning can occur every 4 days—females release two gelatinous egg masses of approximately 12,000 to 15,000 eggs each, which can drift for up to 25 days until the fry emerge.

The lionfish has 18 poisonous spines, which are used as a means of defense against predators. Thirteen long, venomous spines are located along the front of the dorsal fin, which is located on top of the fish. Two short poisonous thorn located on the pelvic fins (one on each side), which is located closer to the head of the fish on the abdomen. Three additional poisonous spines are located along leading edge anal fin, which is located closer to the tail of the fish. The large and feathery pectoral fins and caudal fin do not contain poisonous spines.

You can see how the spines help the lionfish protect itself from other predators (in particular from the eel) in the video:

The lionfish is endowed with noticeable coloring for a reason. Thus, she seems to warn: “Do not approach - poisonous fish" Venom glands are located in the grooves of the spiny rays of the first dorsal fin of the lionfish. Very often, novice scuba divers who are interested in beautiful fish, decide to touch or pick it up. Here the person receives a terrible injection with a considerable dose of poison.

Poisoning with lionfish venom is very serious: it is accompanied by convulsions and disturbances in the functioning of the heart. It happens that gangrene develops at the puncture site. The pain from one thorn begins to subside only after a couple of hours and is still felt after several days. But you can get deep injections from several thorns at once...

When a person is pricked by several thorns, he experiences sharp pain, from which he loses consciousness or goes into a state of shock. This is especially dangerous at depth, when a person loses control and is unable to rise to the surface on his own. This is why lionfish injections can lead to death.

The lionfish looks like a pretty nice fish, but you should be careful. Lionfish themselves are very passive. That is why they never attack themselves. Most often, through inattention or out of curiosity, a person stumbles upon dangerous thorns. Finally, you should remember: even after the death of the fish, the poison retains its strength for a long time. You won't get hurt if you don't touch this fish at all.

	Length: up to 30 cm Weight: up to 1 kg Habitat: tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific oceans off the coast of China, Japan and Australia.

The inhabitants of the underwater world can be amazingly beautiful. A clear confirmation of this are lionfish. But they are not only beautiful, but also very dangerous. Several injections inflicted by their poisonous needles located on the fins lead to paralysis of the skeletal and respiratory muscles. If a person stung by a lionfish is not helped to get to shore in time, he will drown.

In their defense, I will say that these fish never attack first, but if you disturb their peace, the offender will be severely punished.

Most often, such collisions occur due to the fault of the person himself. An inattentive swimmer can accidentally touch her with his foot when she is resting peacefully among the stones or corals, and curious divers have no reason to pull their hands towards sea ​​creatures, even if they are very beautiful.

In fact, it is a rather cute and cute creature, about 30 centimeters in length. It doesn't look much like a regular fish. Large pectoral and dorsal fins with long ribbons give it a special nobility and sophistication of its image. But it is this beauty that is the most dangerous weapon.

These luxurious fan-shaped fins conceal sharp needles with poisonous glands. One light prick and a person’s health sharply deteriorates, if several injections follow, then outside help is required, otherwise the person may simply not be able to swim to the shore on his own.

The striped lionfish has several names: zebra fish, lion fish, zebra lionfish. And they all have their place. It is compared to a zebra because of its striped coloring, consisting of gray, red and brown stripes; with a lion - because of the long fan-like fins, which give the fish the appearance of a kind of “mane”. It was nicknamed lionfish because of its large pectoral fins that resemble wings.

Its bright color acts as a warning - “Danger to life - do not approach!” Sea life for some reason they understand this, but people don’t always. In addition, it also performs a camouflage function, which allows the fish to quietly fit into the landscape of coral reefs and calmly wait for its prey.

Lionfish are ruthless predators. They prey on smaller fish, shrimp, crabs and shellfish. There are 2 hunting options. The first is when a fish, with the help of its long fins, drives the fish into a trap, for example, a narrow crevice between corals, where it swallows it with incredible speed.

The second is when she loosens all her “decorations” and freezes in a motionless pose. Against the backdrop of bright corals, it looks like colored algae, which is why small fish calmly swim so close to it.

If you want to try your luck, you can safely go swimming on the Red Sea coast or visit tropical waters off the coast of China, Japan and Australia. It is there that you can get to know this amazing fish better (if anyone has such a desire).

Not so long ago, literally 16-17 years ago, our beauty settled in another place that was not typical for her before - in the Caribbean Sea. To date, they have already spread off the coasts of Haiti, Cuba, Florida and the Cayman Islands.

Tourists vacationing at these resorts do not like this neighborhood. And the aquatic inhabitants have a hard time, since the lionfish is famous for its gluttony (it is capable of swallowing smaller fish whole, including its relatives). But sometimes she herself acts as a tasty and, apparently, safe lunch for more large fish.

The poisonous glands of the lionfish are located in 18 needles located on the back, belly and closer to the tail. Each needle contains deep channels in which poisonous glands are located. In principle, the amount of poison from a single needle injection does not pose a particular threat to life.

The injection site will be very painful, gangrene may form, convulsions and disturbances in heart activity may occur, but this will not lead to death. But if several needles have penetrated into the body and, moreover, deeply, then there is an urgent need to take emergency measures for the salvation of man.

Although the zebra fish's venom may represent mortal danger, no documented cases of death after meeting her have yet been found.

This is how cute lionfish are in childhood :)

The lionfish got its nickname for its large pectoral fins, which are so well developed that they large size gives them a resemblance to the wings of birds. The body of the fish is strewn a large number long sharp and poisonous rays. An injection from such a thorn is extremely painful; it can cause a person to go into painful shock, which is especially dangerous at depth, since the diver simply does not have time to surface to the boat or swim to the shore. In rare cases, tissue necrosis may form at the injection site, which leads to gangrene of the stung limb.

The extreme danger of the poisonous rays of the lionfish makes it one of the most scary inhabitants sea ​​waters. In addition, the fish live for the most part on picturesque coral reefs, which are traditionally favorite place divers diving. An inexperienced diver or a person simply fascinated by the beauty of the fish will definitely get pricked if he tries to pet a lionfish.

However, the lionfish is a rather passive fish. She spends most of her time motionless, lying on her belly at the bottom, or crawling into a crevice. She goes hunting only at night. It sucks its prey along with water into its large mouth when it gets close enough to the predator. Among bright colors of a coral reef, the lionfish looks like “another” beautiful bush that small fish, shrimp or mollusks definitely want to explore. But this same ability to disguise itself as a bunch of algae for a person, as already mentioned, sometimes turns tragic.

At all coral reef a place as beautiful as it is dangerous. If it is not difficult to notice a giant grouper, and it is known that it can attack a person if it considers him a contender for its territory, then seeing a moray eel, snake or lionfish can sometimes be difficult. So be careful. It should be remembered that the lionfish does not attack first, and the injections are random.

talk about appearance lionfish can take a long time. The many types of lionfish that live in the world's oceans vary in size and color. In the Caribbean Sea there are individuals growing up to 55 cm. Most fish do not exceed 30 cm. All subspecies of lionfish are characterized by large pectoral fins. There are long rays on the back. The caudal and anal fins are moved far towards the tail. The coloring resembles the stripes of a zebra, hence the unofficial name of the lionfish - zebra fish.

Lionfish have few enemies on the reef. Only in the stomachs of large groupers were the remains of this fish found. The greatest danger to zebra fish is humans. He uses them as aquarium fish.