• In 2001 a local hobbyist entered a lionfish in Bermuda's Agricultural Exhibition, swearing he had collected it from a tide pool in Devonshire Bay. Nobody believed him until later that year when divers spotted more of the same on the Island's reefs and on reefs and wrecks along the southeastern US.

• Lionfish are native to the Pacific Ocean and the Red Sea but are now established in the Atlantic around the Bahamas, Cuba, Turks and Caicos, along most of the US coast as far north as New York and around Bermuda.

• As a member of the dangerous scorpionfish family a lionfish isn't mild-mannered or easily intimidated. If you draw near, it extends and widens huge pectoral fins to enlarge its size in warning.

• The tips of the lionfish's spines are extremely sharp and when stabbing require little force to penetrate another creature's flesh. Injection of venom follows immediately.

• The lionfish begins feeding at sunset when activity in the coral reef is highest. They glide upwards along the rock and coral sneaking up on unexpecting prey from below. Its striped colourful pattern allows the fish to blend into the background of coral branches, feather-stars and spiny sea urchins.

• The lionfish attacks with one swift gulping motion that sucks the prey into its mouth. The attack is so quick and smooth that if the victim is among a group of fish the other fish in the group may not notice, allowing the lionfish to continue hunting other members.

• When lionfish are ready to reproduce, males turn darker and are more uniformly coloured and females with ripening eggs become paler.

• Courtship begins just before dark and is always initiated by the males. After circling several times, the male rises to the water surface with the female following behind. While ascending, the female trembles her pectoral fins and eventually releases her spawn. As she does this, the male releases his sperm to fertilise the eggs.

• Twelve hours after fertilization the embryo begins to form. Only 18 hours after fertilization, the head and eyes become moderately developed. Four days after conception, the larvae are already good swimmers and are able to begin feeding.

• If a male lionfish meets another male while hunting the more aggressive male will turn darker and point its poisonous, spiny dorsal fins at the other individual who usually folds down its pectoral fins and swims away.