HAVANA TIMES — I’ve captured a magnificent Pterois volitans specimen. I dared kidnap the fish because of its small size (which made the task rather simple). This species, characterized by long, needle-like fin rays, blindly trusts its venom and therefore does not require a quick escape.
I cut open a transparent bottle of pop to use as trap. A mere five meters from the shore, I saw one swimming about, very much at home, and, using a snorkel, invited it to enter the container – which it did without hesitation. It was stressed on the way home. When I placed it in my fish-tank, it vomited its last victim (a small red fish, which it regurgitated whole).
I wanted to find out how aggressive these specimens can be when faced with an apparent danger. To do this, I employed the brush I use to wipe algae off the glass of the fish-tank. I placed the brush in front of the fish and, when it was within reach, it lunged towards it and got stuck there, as its dorsal fin rays got caught in the bristles for a few moments.
I had read about them, but didn’t know how they behaved. They belong to the Scorpaenidae family, which includes some of the world’s most poisonous fish. We know they’ve already made it to our coasts. Hurricane Andrew destroyed an aquarium in the United States and released them into an environment to which they are not accustomed.
About three years ago, during one of my swims around the coast behind the Melia Havana Hotel, I came across as many as ninety-two heads of lionfish in a single day, the result of a massive offensive against the fish, which are said to be voracious predators which find no biological checks in this environment (save people, who can eat them, provided they are properly scaled and deprived of their dangerous rays).
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