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| ©AP |
| Although lionfish are not aggressive towards humans, their sting is very painful |
A luridly striped fish with poisonous spikes has invaded the Caribbean where it is quickly spreading - and endangering the beautiful environment so beloved of tourists.
The red lionfish is a native of the Indian and Pacific ocean. But it started appearing in the Caribbean 16 years ago after a tropical storm smashed a private aquarium near Miami.
Now it is colonising the entire sea, feasting on native species of fish and crustaceans and delivering painful stings to divers. A single animal was seen to eat 20 smaller fish in just half an hour.
Until recently, the lionfish invasion was mostly concentrated on the Bahamas, where it infested beaches, reefs and mangrove thickets where baby fish grow. In the past year, its numbers increased tenfold in some parts of the archipelago
