Animal
Red lionfish
The red lionfish has red and white stripes and long, feathery fins. It lives on coral reefs. Its spiny fins keep it safe, so we look but never touch.
The red lionfish is a striped reef fish with long, spiny fins that spread out like a lion's mane. It comes from the Pacific and eastern Indian Oceans, where it hunts small fish and shrimp at night. People released lionfish into the Atlantic Ocean, and there they have spread fast, eating many native reef fish.
Pterois volitans is a venomous scorpionfish (family Scorpaenidae) native to the Indo-West Pacific. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern (2016) with an increasing population trend. Introduced to the western Atlantic, most likely through the aquarium trade, it is now established from North Carolina through the Caribbean and the Gulf, where studies summarized by USGS show it can sharply cut the numbers of native reef fish.
Photo: Michael Gäbler, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the red lionfish
The red lionfish has red and white stripes.
Its fins are long and spread out like feathers. Some fins have sharp spines. The spines help keep the lionfish safe.
The red lionfish is one of the most striking fish on a coral reef. Its body is white or cream with red to reddish-brown stripes, some wide and some very thin. Long, separate spines stick up from its back, and its big side fins open like fans.
It belongs to the scorpionfish family. Like its relatives, it has spines that carry venom, which it uses to defend itself. Most scorpionfish are colored to blend in, but the lionfish is bold and easy to see.
Pterois volitans is a ray-finned fish (class Actinopterygii) in the scorpionfish family, Scorpaenidae. NOAA describes 13 dorsal spines, 3 anal spines, fan-like pectoral fins, fleshy tentacles above the eyes and below the mouth, and smooth-edged (cycloid) scales. The IUCN gives a maximum length of about 38 centimeters; FishBase lists a record of 45.7 centimeters and 1.4 kilograms.
USGS notes that most scorpionfishes are camouflaged, but lionfish are a striking exception, with greatly extended fin spines and bold banding. A very similar species, the devil firefish (Pterois miles), lives mainly in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea; the devil firefish usually has one fewer ray in its soft dorsal and anal fins, and USGS says lionfish in the Atlantic can be identified with certainty only by genetic tests.
Quick facts
- Group
- Fish
- Length
- up to 38 cm
- Weight
- up to 1.4 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- up to 10 years
A Pacific fish in a new ocean
Red lionfish come from warm seas near Asia and Australia.
Now they also live in the Atlantic Ocean, near Florida and the Caribbean. People brought them there by mistake.
Red lionfish are native to the warm Indo-West Pacific, from the eastern Indian Ocean to French Polynesia, and from southern Japan and Korea down to northern New Zealand. They live on lagoon and outer reefs, usually from about 1 to 50 meters deep.
They have also been introduced to the western Atlantic Ocean. There they now live along the southeastern United States, around the Bahamas and Caribbean islands, along Central and South America, and in the Gulf. They use reefs, shipwrecks, seagrass, mangroves and hard bottoms.
The IUCN describes a native range from Cocos-Keeling and Christmas Islands to the Marquesas, the Pitcairn group and the Austral Islands, south to Lord Howe Island and northern New Zealand, and north to southern Japan and southern Korea, typically at 1 to 50 meters.
In the western Atlantic, USGS reports lionfish established from the Florida Keys to Cape Hatteras, in Bermuda (numerous by 2004), the Bahamas (2005), the Greater Antilles (2007 to 2009), the Lesser Antilles, the Gulf, and Caribbean coasts from Mexico to Venezuela (2009 to 2010). They have been found from just a few inches of water to over 300 meters. USGS treats the Atlantic fish as 'lionfishes', since genetic work found about 93 percent P. volitans and 7 percent P. miles.
Its habitat
Where can you find this animal?
- Brought here by people · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Brought here by people · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Established in the western Atlantic: the US Atlantic coast from the Florida Keys to Cape Hatteras, the Gulf, the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and Caribbean coasts from Mexico to Venezuela. Bermuda, the Turks and Caicos, the Cayman Islands and the Lesser Antilles also have lionfish but are too small to shade. USGS counts the two look-alike lionfish species together here; most Atlantic lionfish are
Places: United States, Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Rep., Puerto Rico, Mexico and 7 more places.
Source: https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?speciesID=963 · checked October 2026
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Reefs of the Indo-West Pacific, from the eastern Indian Ocean to French Polynesia and from southern Japan and Korea to northern New Zealand. The IUCN also lists many small Pacific islands too small to shade here, including French Polynesia, Guam, Palau, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands. Lionfish live only in coastal waters of each place shown.
Places: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and 11 more places.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in United States, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, Philippines and 58 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
A fan-finned hunter
Lionfish eat small fish, shrimp and crabs.
They spread their big fins wide. Then a little fish has nowhere to go, and gulp! The lionfish swallows it.
Red lionfish are predators. They eat small fish, shrimps and crabs, and they eat more fish as they grow older.
A lionfish hunts slowly. It spreads its big, fan-like side fins and moves toward a small fish until the fish is trapped in a corner. Then it snaps its jaws open very fast and swallows the prey whole. Lionfish were thought to hunt mainly at night, but in the Atlantic they have been found with full stomachs in the daytime too.
The diet is small fishes and crustaceans, with fish making up more of it as lionfish age (USGS). FishBase and the Florida Museum describe the hunting method: the lionfish stalks prey with its pectoral fins spread wide, herds it into a corner, and takes it with a lightning-quick strike of the jaws, swallowing it whole. Its many small teeth seem to serve only for gripping.
NOAA reports that in the Atlantic lionfish eat over 50 species of fish, including some that are economically and ecologically important. Although thought to be mostly nocturnal, lionfish there are often active and feeding during the day. USGS adds that larger lionfish eat smaller ones.
Did you know?
Lionfish can live in very deep water.
In the Atlantic, lionfish have been found from very shallow water to more than 300 meters deep.
USGS reports lionfishes from just a few inches of water to over 300 meters, on reefs, wrecks, bridge pilings, seagrass and hard bottom.
Stripes, fans and spines
A lionfish has long spines on its back.
The spines have venom, which can hurt. The lionfish uses them only to protect itself. Divers look at lionfish but never touch them.
The red lionfish's long back spines, and some of the spines on its lower fins, contain venom. It uses them for protection, not for hunting. The spines may be one reason few animals eat lionfish.
Its big side fins are pectoral fins, spread like fans for herding prey. Fleshy little flaps grow above its eyes and below its mouth. Its scales have smooth edges. NOAA says lionfish rely on their bold colors and fins to discourage predators.
Venom glands lie in grooves of the dorsal, anal and pelvic fin spines (NOAA; Florida Museum). NOAA describes the venom as a combination of protein, a neuromuscular toxin and acetylcholine. For people, a sting can cause extreme pain lasting days, sweating, breathing difficulty and even paralysis; NOAA advises anyone stung to seek medical attention immediately.
NOAA notes that lionfish are slow-moving and conspicuous, relying on their coloration and fins to discourage predators. USGS suggests that the dangerous spines may contribute to their having few natural enemies; few predators are documented, and a few lionfish have been found in the stomachs of native groupers in the Bahamas.
Floating eggs, drifting babies
Lionfish mothers make lots and lots of eggs.
The eggs float in the sea. Tiny baby fish hatch and drift. Later they settle down on a reef.
Lionfish release their eggs and sperm into open water, so the eggs are fertilized outside the mother's body. The eggs float away together in a mass.
The tiny young drift in the open sea for a few weeks before settling on a reef. In the Atlantic, lionfish breed all year, and NOAA says a grown-up female can release roughly two million eggs in a year. That is one reason they spread so quickly.
P. volitans is a broadcast spawner with external fertilization, producing a pelagic egg mass (IUCN; Florida Museum). In the Bahamas, the pelagic larval stage was estimated to last 20 to 35 days, moderate to low for shallow marine fishes (IUCN, citing Ahrenholz and Morris 2010). Pelagic juveniles can disperse over great distances, which FishBase gives as the reason for its broad range.
In the western Atlantic it can reproduce year-round. Size at maturity was estimated at about 19 centimeters total length, and fecundity rises quickly with size (IUCN, citing Gardner et al. 2015). NOAA reports that a mature female lionfish releases roughly two million eggs a year. In the native range, USGS notes that juveniles live in small groups while adults are usually alone.
Resting by day, hunting by night
In the daytime, lionfish often rest under ledges.
They hang very still, with their heads tipped down. Grown-up lionfish usually live alone.
During the day, red lionfish often rest under ledges, in caves or in cracks in the reef. They hang almost motionless, with their heads tilted slightly down.
They swim slowly, rippling the soft parts of their back and bottom fins. Young lionfish live in small groups, but adults usually live alone in their native range. In the Atlantic, lionfish are often seen out and about in the daytime, alone or in small groups.
By day red lionfish shelter under ledges or in caves and crevices, nearly motionless with the head tilted slightly downward (Florida Museum; FishBase). They move by slowly undulating the soft rays of the dorsal and anal fins (NOAA). The Florida Museum notes that studies of captive lionfish suggest that sheltering individuals may simply be ones that have recently fed.
When threatened, the red lionfish can turn its spines forward toward the threat. In the Atlantic, NOAA notes that lionfish are often active by day, alone or in small groups, and USGS reports them in water as cold as 56 °F (about 13 °C) off Long Island.
Did you know?
Lionfish rest with their heads pointing down.
By day, a red lionfish often hangs nearly still under a ledge, with its head tilted slightly down.
Daytime sheltering is nearly motionless with the head tilted downward (Florida Museum; FishBase).
Safe at home, a problem away
Red lionfish are not in danger.
But in the Atlantic they eat many little reef fish. People there catch lionfish to help the reefs.
In its native Pacific home, the red lionfish is common, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
In the Atlantic it is an invasive species: an animal that was brought to a new place and harms the wildlife there. It has few predators and eats many young native fish. Scientists worry it could also eat parrotfish that keep seaweed from covering corals. People hold lionfish fishing contests, called derbies, to remove them.
The IUCN assessed P. volitans as Least Concern (assessed March 2015, published 2016; flagged as needing updating), with an increasing trend and no known major threats. It is collected for the aquarium trade.
In the Atlantic the impact is well studied. USGS summarizes a 2007 Bahamas experiment in which a single lionfish cut the arrival of young native fish on small patch reefs by 79 percent over five weeks (Albins and Hixon 2008), and a two-year study linking rising lionfish numbers to a 65 percent drop in prey fish biomass (Green et al. 2012). Derbies and fisheries have been suggested to reduce numbers, but the IUCN notes that very high removal rates are needed to make a difference.
IUCN Red List
How is the red lionfish doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2
Amazing facts
-
A red lionfish swallows its food whole.
A lionfish corners a small fish with its fan fins, then snaps it up and swallows it whole.
Prey are herded with the expanded pectoral fins and taken in a single, very fast strike; the small teeth only grip (Florida Museum).
-
Lionfish can live in very deep water.
In the Atlantic, lionfish have been found from very shallow water to more than 300 meters deep.
USGS reports lionfishes from just a few inches of water to over 300 meters, on reefs, wrecks, bridge pilings, seagrass and hard bottom.
-
Lionfish rest with their heads pointing down.
By day, a red lionfish often hangs nearly still under a ledge, with its head tilted slightly down.
Daytime sheltering is nearly motionless with the head tilted downward (Florida Museum; FishBase).
-
The red lionfish has many names.
The red lionfish is also called the turkeyfish, the red firefish and the butterfly cod.
The IUCN lists English names including common lionfish, featherfins, ornate butterfly-cod, peacock lionfish, red firefish and turkeyfish.
Words to know
- venom
- a harmful liquid some animals use to protect themselves or catch food
- invasive species
- a plant or animal brought to a new place, where it spreads and harms the wildlife living there
- native
- living naturally in a place, without being brought there by people
- pectoral fin
- one of the two fins on the sides of a fish, just behind the head
- predator
- an animal that hunts and eats other animals
- derby
- a fishing contest, held to catch as many of one kind of fish as possible
Discovery challenge
-
What does a lionfish use its spines for?
What are the red lionfish's venomous spines for?
What is the main role of the lionfish's venomous spines?
- Catching food
- Protecting itself
- Digging in sand
Show the answer
Protecting itself
Its spines keep it safe from animals that might eat it.
The spines are for defense. The lionfish catches food with a quick snap of its jaws.
Defense: venom in the dorsal, anal and pelvic spines deters predators; prey are taken by a rapid strike.
-
How does a lionfish trap a little fish?
How does a red lionfish catch its prey?
Which hunting technique does Pterois volitans use?
- It spreads its fan fins to corner it
- It shocks it with electricity
- It catches it in a web
Show the answer
It spreads its fan fins to corner it
It spreads its big fan fins so the little fish can't get away.
It spreads its fan-like side fins to herd a fish into a corner, then swallows it whole.
Expanded pectoral fins herd prey into a corner before a single fast strike.
-
Where did red lionfish first live?
Where is the red lionfish native?
Which region is the red lionfish's native range?
- The Atlantic Ocean
- The Pacific and Indian Oceans
- Lakes and rivers
Show the answer
The Pacific and Indian Oceans
They come from warm seas near Asia and Australia, in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
They are native to the Indo-West Pacific. In the Atlantic, they were brought by people.
The Indo-West Pacific; Atlantic populations are introduced, most likely through the aquarium trade.
-
Why do people catch lionfish near Florida?
Why are lionfish a problem in the Atlantic Ocean?
Why are lionfish considered harmful in the western Atlantic?
- They eat many native reef fish
- They eat all the coral
- They are in danger there
Show the answer
They eat many native reef fish
They eat lots of little fish that belong on those reefs.
They are invasive: with few predators, they eat many young native fish.
As invasive predators with few enemies, they sharply reduce native fish recruitment and prey biomass (USGS).
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Country
Australia
Australia is a country and the smallest continent, surrounded by ocean in the Southern Hemisphere. Much of its middle is dry and flat, most people live near the coast, and its animals include kangaroos, koalas and the platypus, a mammal that lays eggs.
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Watch
Country
Philippines
The Philippines is an island country in Southeast Asia, in the western Pacific Ocean. It has more than 7,000 islands, about 50 volcanoes and rich coral reefs, and about 112.7 million people were counted there in 2024.
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Watch
Country
United States
The United States is a large country in North America made of 50 states, from icy Alaska to the warm islands of Hawaii. It has the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River and Yellowstone, and about 342 million people live there.
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Australia
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe how the red lionfish's spines, fins and stripes help it survive.
- Explain what an invasive species is, using lionfish in the Atlantic as an example.
- Understand that some animals have venomous defenses, and that we watch wildlife without touching.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 12 minutes
Talk about it
- Why might an animal with few predators spread quickly in a new place?
- What can pet owners do to make sure aquarium animals never end up in the wild?
- Lionfish are common at home but a problem in the Atlantic. How can the same animal be both?
Try at home or in class
- Hold two paper fans out at your sides like lionfish fins and see how they make a 'wall' that could corner a small toy fish.
- On a world map, trace the lionfish's native home in the Pacific and its new home in the Caribbean.
Key vocabulary: venom, invasive species, native, pectoral fin, predator, derby
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Pterois volitans (Red Lionfish), 2016 global assessment , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Lionfish facts , NOAA National Ocean Service
- Pterois volitans/miles (lionfish): species profile , U.S. Geological Survey, Nonindigenous Aquatic Species
- Red lionfish (Pterois volitans) , Florida Museum of Natural History
- Pterois volitans, Red lionfish: species summary , FishBase
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 28, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.