The Red Lionfish
Category: Blogging

Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Pterois volitans, but the public and unstoppable paparazzi call me the Red Lionfish.

Yes, I'm getting my 15 minutes of fame; I am the Celebrity Critter of the Week  here at The Pier Aquarium in St. Petersburg, FL! One of my favorite topics to talk about is…me. So, I will be glad to educate you.

I come from the Scorpaenidae family. I have five other generas in my family. You could say we are cousins. In all, we have 16 different species. I'm nocturnal and love the night life! My body is covered with strips like a zebra, and I can grow to a gorgeous size of 15 inches. I primarily eat small fish and shrimp and you can find me in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. My home is around coral and artificial reefs or hard bottom substrates. Glad for you to visit any time!

They call me a lion, and though I look nothing like the king of the jungle, you could say I'm the king of my friends—and enemies.  With my huge dorsal and pelvic fins, I am not only intimidating and fiercely-beautiful (pardon my healthy self-confidence) but fatal to my want-to-be predators. Venom found within my dorsal, anal and pelvic fins bring a fatal blow to attackers. Humans usually will experience nausea and dizziness when stung by my fins, but typically they aren't fatally harmed.

 Although I have this lethal characteristic, don't think I'm a bully! I don't use my venom to catch my prey; no, only as a form of self defense. My prey are usually so scared (or pathetically enamored) of my good looks that all I need to do is back them into a corner. My family and I call this "herding." It works quite well, believe me!

Now, what kind of celebrity would I be if I didn't promote a cause? There is something very destructive going on because of us Lionfish. Humans love to have us in their aquariums. I can't imagine why! But after awhile some of them get tired of us and plop us back into the ocean and not where we're from necessarily.  Of course, we love this. What's better than the wide open blue underworld?  But because this has happened so frequently in the U.S., we are overpopulating the east coast. And, because of our strength, beauty and undeniable charm we are dominating the food chain!

You could say I am an invasive species to these areas. We enjoy the warmth and thrive in the tropical waters, which threatens the food source of Tang and Grouper species. What can I say, I'm a fighter! Hear me roar…

___________________________________________________

The Red Lionfish was Celebrity Critter of the Week at the Pier Aquarium, August 23, 2008. Our marine education staff gives children and adults the opportunity to learn about a unique animal at the aquarium through this exciting program. Please  go visit our website for program information: www.pieraquarium.org.

We Recomend you trying a fun Lionfish craft! All you neeed is a brown paper bag, red construction paper, white & red yarn and some crayans or markers. Decorate the bag like a Lionfish, cut out the paper and attach the yarn to complete those fierce and beautiful fins. Have fun and get creative!

Here are a few pictures from August 23, 2008:

____________________________________________

For more information about the Lionfish Invasive problem, click here.

8:30 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Green Moray Eel

We've just acquired a four foot green moray eel. Come by and check it out.

Zach

10:23 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos

New Touch Up and Running

Sorry for not updating, but the new touch system has been up and running for a while now. Be sure to stop by and see all that it has to offer. In addition, the two side tanks of touch (remember, they are several hundred gallons each) are filled with sharks, lobsters, stingrays and more for you and your family to help feed for us! Just stop by 1PM-4PM for our daily programs.

Zach

10:20 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

New Touch System Progressing

The next stage of the rennovation is progressing nicely. The new touch tank (huge compared to our current system), is nearing completion. If you have visited the Pier aquarium lately you have seen the large blue curtain in the back. This new system will allow for more animal specimens and more species variety. The large sides to the touch system (hundreds of gallons each) have been deemed for use with rays and sharks! It be up and running within a month. You can expect a more comprehensive touch program to accompany this rennovation as well, with daily programs running from 1PM-4PM (tentative).

Zach Ostroff - Scientific Staff

5:32 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Aquarium Rennovation Status

I am pleased to report that the rennovations to the aquarium are in full swing. One third of the floor has been remodeled with new tanks and specimens.
The old coral reef tank has been redone, with a new, cube form and more sophisticated equipment to give you a better experience in the future. The Atlantic moray eel now has his own tank, designed so that he is always visible to you. A new addition, the yellowheaded jawfish species tank, has a dozen individuals. Each of which actively excavcate a burrow in the sand with their large mouths - a favorite amongst children.
More updates will follow as the rennovation progresses.

Zach Ostroff - Scientific Staff

6:27 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Pacific Exhibit Renovation

The Pacific exhibit (you may know it as the large tank with the triggerfish and lionfish) has been redone! It is much improved (better viewing for you and easier maintenance for us). And of course, we have some new fish for you, so come check it out.

Zach

1:58 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Brand new Touch Tank and more new stuff

We have finally opened up our brand new touch tank (called Tidal Zone Creature Feature). It's twice the size, allowing us to keep a larger number and higher variety of organisms. New animals are arriving all the time so come and check them out!
Also, the seahorse tank has seen some updates; it has been re-aquascaped and has more fish and shrimp. The most beautiful are the royal grammas which are bright purple and yellow, a great addition.

John

2:53 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Florida Wetlands exhibit

Forgot to mention that our much awaited Wetlands exhibit featuring three paintings by Florida Highwaymen painters is up complete with Duratrans (what I call the big slides) installed in the wall.

You have to see it to understand what I mean. Will take a photo and post (clueless on that; need someone to tell me how to do this). The photos for the Duratrans were taken by several people including Michele de la Rosa of our Scientific Staff, Jared Power, a friend of the Aquarium and George Padrenoss, a friend of a friend (I think). Scientific Staffer Kate Page wrote the information for the Duratrans.

Beautiful paintings, beautiful photos to illustrate Florida Wetlands, a most precious natural resource. We hope you come by to see this exhibit up until Oct. 31 (possibly longer through November) and become inspired to help preserve our wetlands. Please let us know if it does!

E

10:30 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Sept. 9 Book Nook update

My apologies for not posting info sooner. Our Hurricane Alert! event was interesting and we also sampled a chicken/sweet potato salad and a bruschetta made with (canned) diced tomatoes, capers, basil and some other tasty ingredients.

Had about 25-30 people attend various activities; we don't know if it was the same people(!) but some learned about hurricanes from Dan Noah from NOAA (no kidding), some played a game under development (HUNKER DOWN!) and others heard firsthand how and why Daphne Nikolopoulos decided to write a cookbook for preparing meals without electricity (one of the last hurricanes left her without electricity for two weeks). In her own words, "you can only eat so many peanut butter sandwiches."

We have other events coming up this month and looking forward to October. No, not Halloween but the first public reading of our book, The Big Fish Move, based on a true story that happened at The Pier Aquarium. The two main characters are Fang, a Niger triggerfish and Spot, a panther grouper. The book was written by kids and parents who visited The Pier Aquarium and participated in three (maybe four?) Book Nook events and yours truly.

It's happening Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Story Time Tent, St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading at the University of South Florida downtown campus. Time is 1:45 pm. Guest reader is Mayor Rick Baker.

If you come by the tent or our booth at the festival, pick up a free Book Nook book mark. It features artwork by one of our favorite illustrators, Kathy Zimmerman of SnookZ Graphics. Kathy is also illustrating the book, which is being art-directed by Deborah Zapata, Zapata Design.

Besides that, we're working on our fundraiser, Surf's Up! 2006 Fish Head Ball. It's adults only and scheduled Nov. 4 at the Hilton in St. Pete.

Check out our web site (www.pieraquarium.org) to see what else we're doing!

Ciao for now,

Emily

1:09 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Creating Gourmet Meals without Electricity

We couldn't call it Gourmet Cooking because there's no electricity involved, but we've scheduled an interesting event for people who always like to be prepared.

For our Sept. 9 Saturday AM Coffee Break/Book Nook by the Bay, we have guest author Daphne Nikolopoulos, who has written The Storm Gourmet: A Guide to Creating Extraordinary Meals without Electricity. Daphne, managing editor of Palm Beach Illustrated, who has written for various foodie and lifestyle magazines, will present food demos, sampling and sign copies of her book from 11am-1pm.

Her appearance is sponsored in part by the Pinellas County Arts Council and MicklerSmith Florida Book Traders.

At 10am there will be a short presentation from a storm expert. I'll post more information as soon as this is confirmed.

And, as always at our Saturday AM Coffee Break/Book Nook events, we'll serve coffee and other refreshments and have our collection of more than 40 marine-related books, the fun read-aloud kind and the more science oriented ones, at the tables for your browsing. Check out www.pieraquarium.org for more information about Book Nook by the Bay.

Emily

6:48 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment