WoRMS

WoRMS taxon details

Pterois volitans (Linnaeus, 1758)

To FishBase images (<i>Pterois volitans</i>, Indonesia, by Patzner, R.)

To FishBase images (Pterois volitans, Indonesia, by Patzner, R.)

AphiaID

159559 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:159559)

Classification

Status

accepted

Rank

Species

Typetaxon of

Pterois Oken, 1817

Parent

Pterois Oken, 1817

Original name

Gasterosteus volitans Linnaeus, 1758

Synonymised names

Gasterosteus volitans Linnaeus, 1758 · unaccepted

Environment

marine, ~~brackish~~, ~~fresh~~, ~~terrestrial~~

Original description

(of Gasterosteus volitans Linnaeus, 1758) Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata [10th revised edition], vol. 1: 824 pp. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae. , available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726886 [details] Available for editors

[request]

Descriptive notes

Description Inhabits lagoon and seaward reefs from turbid inshore areas to depths of over 50 m. Hides in unexposed places at daytime...

Description Inhabits lagoon and seaward reefs from turbid inshore areas to depths of over 50 m. Hides in unexposed places at daytime often with head down and practically immobile. Hunts small fishes, shrimps, and crabs at night, using its widespread pectorals trapping prey into a corner, stunning it and then swallowing it in one sweep. Dorsal spines are venomous; the sting can be treated by heating the afflicted part and application of corticoids (Ref. 5503). A popular table fish. [details]

Distribution Indo-West Pacific; exotic established New York to Florida

Distribution Indo-West Pacific; exotic established New York to Florida [details]

Taxonomy introduced

Taxonomy introduced [details]

Taxonomic citation

Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. (2024). FishBase. Pterois volitans (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=159559 on 2024-10-31

Taxonomic edit history

Date

action

2005-05-30 09:27:08Z

created

Cuvelier, Daphne

2008-01-15 17:27:08Z

changed

Bailly, Nicolas

2008-04-07 06:51:33Z

changed

Decock, Wim

2009-06-09 07:13:02Z

changed

Bailly, Nicolas

Licensing

The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

[taxonomic tree]

original description (of Gasterosteus volitans Linnaeus, 1758) Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata [10th revised edition], vol. 1: 824 pp. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae. , available online at https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726886 [details] Available for editors

[request]

context source (HKRMS) Hong Kong marine fish database. AFCD. , available online at https://www.hk-fish.net/en/fish/introduction/ [details]

basis of record Froese, R. & D. Pauly (Editors). (2024). FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. version (06/2024)., available online at https://www.fishbase.org [details]

additional source King, C.M.; Roberts, C.D.; Bell, B.D.; Fordyce, R.E.; Nicoll, R.S.; Worthy, T.H.; Paulin, C.D.; Hitchmough, R.A.; Keyes, I.W.; Baker, A.N.; Stewart, A.L.; Hiller, N.; McDowall, R.M.; Holdaway, R.N.; McPhee, R.P.; Schwarzhans, W.W.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Rust, S.; Macadie, I. (2009). Phylum Chordata: lancelets, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals. in: Gordon, D.P. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: 1. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. pp. 431-554. [details]

additional source Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp. (look up in IMIS) [details] Available for editors

[request]

additional source Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). , available online at http://www.itis.gov [details]

ecology source Looby, A.; Erbe, C.; Bravo, S.; Cox, K.; Davies, H. L.; Di Iorio, L.; Jézéquel, Y.; Juanes, F.; Martin, C. W.; Mooney, T. A.; Radford, C.; Reynolds, L. K.; Rice, A. N.; Riera, A.; Rountree, R.; Spriel, B.; Stanley, J.; Vela, S.; Parsons, M. J. G. (2023). Global inventory of species categorized by known underwater sonifery. Scientific Data. 10(1). (look up in IMIS), available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02745-4 [details]

Present

Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio

Inaccurate

Introduced: alien

Containing type locality

From regional or thematic species database

Introduced species abundance in North Atlantic Ocean (IHO Sea Area) : Fluctuating [details]

Introduced species abundance in Honduran part of the Caribbean Sea (Marine Region) : Common [details]

Introduced species abundance in Caribbean Sea (IHO Sea Area) : Common [details]

Introduced species impact Bahamas part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) Outcompetes native species for resources and/or space [details]

Introduced species impact Bahamas part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) Alters trophic interactions [details]

Introduced species impact Bahamas part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) Consumes native species (predator or herbivore) [details]

Introduced species impact in Caribbean Sea (IHO Sea Area) : Consumes native species (predator or herbivore) [details]

Introduced species impact United States part of the Gulf of Mexico (Marine Region) Consumes native species (predator or herbivore) [details]

Introduced species impact United States part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) Consumes native species (predator or herbivore) [details]

Introduced species impact in Dominican Republic part of the Caribbean Sea (Marine Region) : Other impact - undefined or uncertain [details]

Introduced species impact in Virgin Islands part of the Caribbean Sea (Marine Region) : Other impact - undefined or uncertain [details]

Introduced species impact in Bahamas part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) : Other impact - undefined or uncertain [details]

Introduced species impact in Cayman Islands part of the Caribbean Sea (Marine Region) : Other impact - undefined or uncertain [details]

Introduced species impact in Mexican part of the Caribbean Sea (Marine Region) : Other impact - undefined or uncertain [details]

Introduced species impact in United States part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) : Other impact - undefined or uncertain [details]

Introduced species management in Venezuelan part of the Caribbean Sea (Marine Region) : yes [details]

Introduced species management United States part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) Extensive Lionfish collection by BNP staff and volunteers began in 2010 (McCreedy et al. 2012). Between July 2010 and April 2017, a total of 6994 Lionfish were removed from the Park, ranging in size from 32 mm to 444 mm total length. The National Park Service (NPS) developed a Lionfish Response Plan, aimed at addressing its impacts in multiple marine parks, that sets forth guidelines for the management of Lionfish within the various NPS units, including collection of Lionfish specimens, cooperation with other entities (e.g., other governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and universities) for research, and education of visitors and the public (McCreedy et al. 2012). [details]

Introduced species management Bahamas part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region):
The two culling frequencies we examined therefore seem to offer a poor trade-off between the demonstrated
conservation gains that can be achieved with frequent culling and the economy of time and money realized by infrequent culling. Moreover, stochastic events such as hurricanes can drastically limit the effectiveness of culling efforts. [details]

Introduced species management in Cayman Islands part of the Caribbean Sea (Marine Region) : yes [details]

Introduced species management Bahamas part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) This suggests at least some mesophotic populations may represent extensions of natural ontogenetic migrations. Interestingly, despite their shallow focus, in many cases culling programs did not appear to alter abundance between depths. In general, we identify widespread invasive lionfish populations on MCE that could be responsible for maintaining high densities of lionfish recruits despite local shallow-biased control programs. [details]

Introduced species population trend in Caribbean Sea (IHO Sea Area) : Increasing [details]

Introduced species population trend in Caribbean Sea (IHO Sea Area) : [details]

Introduced species remark United States part of the Gulf of Mexico (Marine Region) Here, nuclear-encoded microsatellite markers were used to genotype invasive lionfish, Pterois volitans, consumers and their prey (n = 80 pairs) previously barcoded as lionfish. Cannibalism was confirmed when samples exhibited two or more different alleles between lionfish and prey DNA across multiple microsatellite loci. This occurred in 26.2% of all samples and in 42% of samples for which the data were considered conclusive. These estimates should be considered conservative given rigorous assignment criteria and low allelic diversity in invasive lionfish populations. The highest incidence of cannibalism corresponded to larger sized consumers from areas with high lionfish densities, suggesting cannibalism in northern Gulf of Mexico lionfish is size- and density-dependent. [details]

Introduced species remark Panamanian part of the Caribbean Sea (Marine Region) We used a reduced representation sequencing method to generate over 50,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms and sequence data from two mitochondrial DNA genes to analyze the population patterns. We found one location in the southeastern Pacific that was genetically similar to one location the southwestern Atlantic and evidence of the subsequent spread south to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, which supports previous findings. [details]

Introduced species remark In Caribbean Sea (IHO Sea Area) : Likely introduction via aquarium trade to coastal waters of SE Florida in mid-late 1980s (Semmens et al. 2004 in Albins, 2013). Rapid range expansion through tropical & subtropical West Atlantic Ocean & Caribbean Sea since early 2000s (Schofield, 2009, 2010 in Albins, 2013). Reaches much higher densities than in native range and may prove to be one of the most damaging marine invasions to date (Albins, 2013). Since the first record in 2009, the presence of juvenile & adult lionfish has been confirmed in all coastal areas along the Mexican Caribbean (R. Gomez, CONANP, pers. comm. in Vasques-Yeomans et al., 2011) [details]

Introduced species remark In Caribbean Sea (IHO Sea Area) : This study reported the presence of lionfish larva from ichthyoplankton in the Atlantic Ocean and highlights the potential for dispersal of lionfish larvae via the Yucatan current into the Gulf of Mexico and Southern Florida. [details]

Introduced species remark Bahamas part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) Lionfish movement was density dependent, declined at larger body sizes, and depended on seascape structure. Lionfish on continuous reefs moved faster and more often than those on patch reefs, and lionfish in patchy habitats moved farther when patches were closer together. [details]

Introduced species remark Bahamas part of the North Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) We found that fewer lionfish were parasitized at
two regions in their introduced Atlantic range (The Bahamas and the Cayman Islands) than at two regions
in their native Pacific range (the Northern Marianas Islands and the Philippines). [details]

Introduced species remark United States part of the Gulf of Mexico (Marine Region) Here we document for the first time the presence of invasive lionfish larvae (Pterois volitans) in the Gulf of Mexico. Three lionfish larvae (standard length: 3.9–5.9 mm) were collected during summer ichthyoplankton surveys in the northern Gulf of Mexico in 2011, with species identification confirmed through the genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA. [details]

Introduced species remark United States part of the Gulf of Mexico (Marine Region) Despite a substantially greater sampling effort in
2007–2008 [total of 938,126 m3 of water sampled compared to approximately 144,013 m3 (~15%) sampled in 2014–2015], we collected no lionfish larvae in 2007–2008, whereas in 2014–2015, 76 larvae were collected. The overall mean density in 2014–2015 of 0.4–0.7 lionfish larvae 1000 m-3 is comparable to a number of common reef fish families and is likely beginning to have an ecological impact on plankton constituents. [details]

Introduced species remark in Mexico (Nation) : The data indicates that the species is established in this location. [details]

Introduced species vector dispersal Mexican part of the Gulf of Mexico (Marine Region) Natural dispersal [details]

Introduced species vector dispersal in Caribbean Sea (IHO Sea Area) : Natural dispersal
originally dispersal mechanism in the region likely to be accidental release by individuals (e.g. Aquarium discards) [details]

Introduced species vector dispersal Brazilian part of the South Atlantic Ocean (Marine Region) Natural dispersal [details]

Introduced species vector dispersal Chinese Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Pathway/vector Other (Ornamental Trade) [details]

Introduced species vector dispersal in Mexican part of the Caribbean Sea (Marine Region) : Individual release: deliberate release by individuals [details]

Introduced species vector dispersal in Mexico (Nation) : Natural dispersal [details]

Unreviewed

Diet fishes, shrimps, crabs [details]

Dimensions max. 380 mm TL [details]

Distribution Indo-West Pacific; exotic established New York to Florida [details]

Habitat benthic [details]

Habitat reef-associated, depth range 2 - 55 m; inhabits lagoon and seaward reefs from turbid inshore areas maximum depth [details]

Importance aquarium trade, commercial, venomous [details]

Taxonomy introduced [details]

Definitions