Critters — Rare Lionfish Discovery!
FiNS Magazine Associate Editors Andrea and Antonella Ferrari encountered a rare deep-water lionfish while diving recently in the Kapalai-Mabul area. Here’s their report:
While scouting under Seaventures Dive Rig just before nightfall with Scubazoo pros Adam Broadbent and Seok Wun, as well as Sipadan-Kapalai Dive Resort’s eagle-eyed veteran Rodel Pepania, we chanced upon a rather drab, diminutive lionfish resting quietly, half buried in the sandy seafloor.
Puzzled by its rather intriguing appearance and behaviour, we were ecstatic when the obviously displeased lionfish suddenly fanned out its spectacular pectoral and ventral fins — gloriously draped in iridescent copper-orange on the outer face, and velvety black with electric blue stripes on the inner one.
Bingo! We immediately recognised our find as an uncommon resident of temperate deep waters, the blackfoot lionfish (Parapterois heterura) — which, until this point, had only been sighted with some regularity by lucky divers in the cold upwellings of Bali’s famed Secret Bay.
Smaller than common lionfish, this rarely observed but exceptionally colourful species can be immediately identified by its unmistakable livery, and by the curiously elongated, thread-like first ray of the tail fin.
The blackfoot lionfish is an easily overlooked species, as it spends most of the daytime half-submerged in the sand or silt substrate; Most specimens are observed from trawls by commercial fishing vessels on muddy bottoms at depths over 40 metres.
Now the secret’s out — so next time you’re muck diving in the Kapalai-Mabul area, keep your eyes open for the glorious blackfoot lionfish!