Scientists Warn of Poisonous Lion Fish
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A new danger is lurking in the ocean--the exotic yet venomous lion fish, scientists say.
Several specimens of the 6- to 12-inch-long spiny fish have been found off the eastern Florida coast, scientists at the Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg said in a statement.
Scientists now believe lion fish, a native of the South Pacific found from Australia to Malaysia, live in a stretch of coast from southern Florida to the Carolinas.
Lion fish, popular with exotic fish collectors because of their red and purple colors, aren’t aggressive but pack a painful--sometimes deadly--punch in their needlelike spines for those who get too close.
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