Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Puzzle as killer lionfish caught off West beach
A RARE poisonous fish that can kill humans with its sting has been caught at a Dorset beach.
The lionfish catch at Chesil Beach was the first time the potentially deadly creature had been caught off the UK coast.
Experts say the fish’s 13 spines can inject venom that can cause paralysis or death.
The lionfish was only in British waters because the sea is warmer than it used to be, fishermen and academics say.
The Sun newspaper spoke to Arfon Summers, who reeled in the potentially lethal fish.
Arfon told the paper his “mind was blown” by his discovery.
He added that he did not release it back into the wild because it was an invasive species and not native to UK shores.
Lionfish are typically found in the Indian Ocean or in the south Pacific, but in recent times they have travelled further and further from their usual habitats, including to the Mediterranean – where they are posing a threat to native fish – and now, it seems, to the UK.
Biologists who are experts in marine life have not ruled out the possibility that the lionfish might have been kept as a pet or in an aquarium before being released into the sea.
But Jason Hall-Spencer, of Plymouth University, told The Sun: “The water is warm enough, so a lionfish could have swum over here from the western Mediterranean.
“If it has, it means there will likely be more, and it could have huge consequences for our native species.”
Meanwhile 39-year-old Arfon’s father, Bill, is breathing a sigh of relief that his son is still in one piece. He said he was “relieved” the dangerous fish didn’t sting him.