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Pterois
Lionfish are venomous marine ray-finned fish of the genus Pterois, native to coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific. They are prolific coral fish characterized by conspicuous warning coloration with red or black bands and ostentatious dorsal fins tipped with venomous spines, which are their primary anti-predator defense. Pterois radiata, Pterois volitans and Pterois miles are the most commonly studied species in the genus. Pterois species are popular aquarium fish. P. volitans and P. miles are recent and significant invasive species in the west Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and Mediterranean Sea.
5 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 5 known species
Common Lionfish
speciesPterois volitans
Indian Lionfish
speciesPterois miles
Plaintail Lionfish
speciesPterois russelii
Luna Lionfish
speciesPterois lunulata
Andover Lionfish
speciesPterois andover
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Pterois in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 47284.