1 There is little danger from a Lionfish to yourself, so long as you keep your fingers clear of the venomous spines.

2 Lionfish populations have exploded in the past few years.

3 But in the past decade, lionfish released into the wild have invaded coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

4 NOAA has launched the "Eat Lionfish" campaign and is working to put the invasive fish on the menu at top U.S. restaurants.

5 Red lionfish are native to the South Pacific, Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

6 The red lionfish sports maroon and white stripes to complement its venomous spines.

7 Lionfish, like grouper, can carry ciguatoxin, which causes vomiting and neurological symptoms, so they cannot be taken from water where the microbe that produces the toxin is found.

8 The lionfish gorge on small fish, mollusks and invertebrates, enough to fill out to as much as 480 grams and decimate local populations on the coral reefs they inhabit.

9 A venomous lionfish breaks into a huge ball of swirling baitfish.

10 A single lionfish can reduce recruitment of other fish on a reef by a staggering 85 percent, and these apex predators are threatening both commercial fishing and tourism.

11 A lionfish swims among a school of glassfish in Egypt's Red Sea.

12 U. S. government researchers believe the red lionfish was introduced into Florida waters during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 when an aquarium broke and at least six fish spilled into Miami's Biscayne Bay.

13 The lionfish are largely taking over thanks to overfishing by us humans, which has seriously diminished native grouper and snapper that would otherwise play the same role.

14 Pacific lionfish is just one species that has proliferated in the southern Atlantic and Caribbean after hobbyists released the fish when they got too big for their tanks.

15 After all, lionfish fillets are not poisonous and rather delicious, according to both the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and fisherfolk who have tasted it.

16 Please try to avoid feeding aggressive, predatory fish such as Piranha or Lionfish with other live fish.

17 So hopefully, this article has belayed some of the fears and corrected some of the myths of keeping lionfish in reef aquaria.

18 A native of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the red lionfish and one of its cousins have rapidly established a new domain from Cape Hatteras to the coast of Mexico.

19 Conservationists said they hoped the cookbook could help create a commercial market for lionfish that would speed their eradication.

20 At Apataki, the Fish Holes site was a garden of hard coral and fish — platinum African pompano, lionfish, snapper of all kinds, plus an assortment of butterfly fish and angelfish.

21 Others, such as the beautiful little bandit angelfish, and the Hawaiian lionfish, are like nearly 12% of all the species of fish in Hawaii.

22 At a recent tasting,[] there was Asian carp ceviche and braised lionfish filet in brown butter sauce.

23 Florida marine conservationists have come up with a simple recipe for fighting the invading lionfish that is gobbling up local reef life -- eat them.

24 But humans can help too, if we just learn to overfish the lionfish.