The lionfish invasion stretches from Florida to the Carolinas–so far. Photo from Shutterstock. They are both beauty and beast, and they have added “major nuisance” to their résumé. Hailing from the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea region, lionfish (Pterois volitans) have invaded Western Hemisphere waters and are having a profoundly harmful ecological impact. First, the backstory: Released aquarium lionfish first hit South Florida reefs in modest numbers in the mid-’80s. Fast-forward about three decades and these voracious predators have blanketed natural and manmade hard-bottom sites from upper South America throughout the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico and north to the Carolinas.

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