Lionfish

Photo: Luis P. B. · CC BY-NC

Miles lionfish — the Red Sea native species rather than the invasive P. volitans — are abundant along the Dolphin Reef wall, hovering at coral ledge edges with their venomous dorsal spines fanned in threat display. In the Red Sea they fill their natural ecological niche as ambush predators of small reef fish and are controlled by larger groupers and moray eels, unlike their invasive counterparts in the Caribbean where no such natural checks exist. Their elaborate pectoral fin displays during courtship in late spring make them particularly photogenic subjects.