I wrote my piece about diving in Bocas Del Toro hurriedly, it was after all a vacation and an adventuresome one, pure chillin’ time was limited, we were always on the go. I forgot to mention some of the cool things we did with Bocas Diving Pirates, including hunting/eating lionfish.

You know how I like to chow down on some invasive species. If you’re a diver and a chiller you are very familiar with Pterois volitans/miles, the beautiful if voracious and venomous lionfish.

Lionfish are at home in the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Pacific, which means they have their place in those ecosystems. However, this spectacular looking fish does not belong in the Atlantic or the Caribbean. There are many theories on how they got there, from ships illegally dumping their bilge water containing eggs, to lionfish aquariums being emptied off the Florida coast. In any case they’re here, we’re stuck with them, and they have no predators. That’s problematic because they reproduce at a scary fast rate and tend to eat all they can. In some places they are punching big holes in the fish and lobster populations.

So generally speaking, especially among divers (though there are always some exceptions), when you speak of spearing lionfish you get approving nods. There’s even a certification you can take in Grand Cayman. Just sayin’, insert suggestive up and down eyebrow movement.

I mentioned they are venomous (not poisonous), which means they have a poison delivery system, but their flesh is actually quite tasty and not deleterious to your health. Full of flavour in fact. Local fishermen (pretty much everywhere we’ve been so far) don’t seem to catch them, either because their fishing techniques don’t work on lionfish (they are crafty buggers) or because there is the fear of being stung. A poke from one of their poisoned quills is no laughing matter, we’re talking tissue necrosis, neurological symptoms, possibly even death (though I don’t know of any recorded instances). You’ll understand why fishermen are less than enthused.

Divers however often (legally) go after them with a Hawaiian sling, a three pronged spear with a rubber band tied to the butt end. The rubber loop is wrapped around the wrist, the spear pushed backwards and the hand used to hold the spear and the band under tension. Releasing the grip propels the spear a short distance forward, hopefully skewering the fish.

Once caught the spines are still very dangerous, the quarry needs to be transported safely, most often they are carefully stuffed into a plastic tube that keeps the spines from pricking the hunter.

We went hunting with el jefe Alex around Tiger Rock and must have caught two dozen fishes, easy, including one so big it barely fit into the tube.

The end result was this:

Lovely, tasty, meaty ceviche.

Some markets are developing a taste for this fish, I heard from one DM, on another island, that he was making a decent secondary income by selling lionfish to restaurants. Also considering how quickly they reproduce, maybe there’s some sustainable fishery possibility? In any case they are quite delicious and I like to do my part for the environment by eating them.

Doritos crusted grilled lionfish filets anyone?

Maybe on the next trip.

Cough. Cayman? Cough.

PS: Two special shout outs!

A) To Charles P. for representin’ in Paris.

B) to Charles G. for getting the DnC flag made, you know we will be flying it from the dive boat on our next trip (cough, Cayman?).