The lionfish, once dreaded by fishermen, and other persons going to the sea in Anguilla, has now multiplied in great numbers from the few discovered in the island’s waters several months ago.
The lionfish, otherwise called “the turkey fish”, by reason of its attractive plume, when its fins and spikes are unfolded, now sometimes outnumbers the other fish caught in fishermen’s traps, it has been reported.
The growth in the number of the lionfish in Anguillian waters has attracted the attention of a Trinidadian PhD marine biology student, at the University of Southampton in England, studying the lionfish throughout the Caribbean. She is Fadilah Ali who visited this newspaper’s office this week, and has been meeting with fishermen and speaking with schoolchildren about her study and knowledge of the lionfish, which she also enjoys eating barbecued.
Her studies include the size, sex, stomach contents of the lionfish and behaviour. She is also studying the socio-economic side of the lionfish which made its way to the region from the Indian Pacific and East Asianregions. This part of her studies includes the awareness of the lionfish and the different opinions held by persons in the various Caribbean islands, especially in places where the invasive species had been for a longer period.
Reporting on some her findings, Ms Ali said in part: “People here are more thinking that lionfish are bad only because of poison whereas, in other areas, the only thing that people think about is that lionfish are bad because of their ecological impact.”
She continued: “When I first came to Anguilla in January, went around and spoke to fishermen, divers and others and asked them about the lionfish, all they knew was that they are bad, and you should stay away. And no one was eating lionfish. More and more people have seen lionfish and I have encountered more people wanting to eat lionfish.
“For the last two weeks, I was sitting under the tree (probably at Crocus Bay) and as fast as someone came to buy fish, I asked whether they would eat lionfish. In the first week, seven people wouldn’t eat lionfish; five would eat lionfish and two weren’t sure. This week, I had more people willing to eat lionfish… People are learning more about lionfish as they look at the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel and they are realising that it is a safe fish to eat.
“At the same time, there are people who think that lionfish are poisonous. When I talked to the students, they think that if they touch the lionfish they would die. They think anything about lionfish means death, whereas if you do get stuck by lionfish, you don’t die.”
Asked to further explain, Ms Ali said: “The first thing is the difference between poison and balance. The poison has to do with eating the meat of an animal – and if something is poisonous, by eating the meat, you get sick; whereas lionfish is not poisonous. It is venomous which means that the venom is only in the spines. Once you remove the spines, it is perfectly safe to eat.
“The other thing is that you don’t necessarily need to remove the spines because heat destroys the venom. In the Bahamas, they just take the fish straight from the sea and put it on a grill and it is safe. People even cook the spines and use them as toothpicks.
“The main thing is that lionfish are not poisonous and that means they are safe to eat. All you have to do [to prepare the fish] is to start from the tail, go towards the head and just cut off all the spines and then you can treat it like any other fish. It is nice white meat, takes seasoning well and is high in Omega acids – and people say the comparison is like a grouper and the butter fish.”
She described the lionfish as growing up to a foot and a half, or fifty centimetres, with a weight about a kilo and a half. “It lays ten thousand eggs at least three times a month throughout the year,” she explained. “When the eggs are released in a bag they flow in the ocean currents, allowing them to move through the Caribbean islands.”
Many of the popular species of fish, normally caught by fishermen, and eaten by lovers of seafood, are gobbled up by the lionfish. This is said to be their most damning nuisance in the marine reefs and the seabed. With the rapid production and spread of the lionfish, the fear is that they may later be the prime catch in Anguillian waters. Time will tell just how many people will eat them as a delicacy.
Ms Ali, who left Anguilla on Wednesday, undertook her research work, and meetings, in collaboration with the Department of the Environment and the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources. She hopes to return to the island next year.
