Somewhere off Israel’s coast, most likely near a rock or reef, a lionfish is swimming at this very moment, unaware that a bounty has been placed on its head.

From Monday, June 1, thousands of Israelis with sport-fishing licenses were given the green light to hunt red lionfish, a  strikingly beautiful fish but also a professional troublemaker, that is responsible for forging a coalition unlike any seen in Israel before.

This is the first time that the regulator (the Agriculture Ministry), an environmental organization (Zalul), and the fishermen (represented by the Sport Fishing Association) — who in ordinary times tend to quarrel with one another — have joined forces in a campaign against a common enemy.

The lionfish earned this honor because it is considered one of the greatest threats to the region’s marine ecosystem. It is an invasive species: it naturally belongs to the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, where it has natural enemies that curb its aggressive expansion.

It reached Israel’s shores and the Mediterranean Sea, much like the jellyfish, through the Suez Canal. When the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps dug the canal in the 19th century, he was thinking about trade and ships. He did not consider that a few other creatures would hitch a ride on his project and jump from one sea to another, a phenomenon now known as Lessepsian migration.

The lionfish was first spotted off Israel’s coast at the start of the previous decade. It measures just 30 to 40 centimeters (12″-16″) long, “but it is a very aggressive predator,” says Guy Rubinstein, director of the Fisheries Division at the Agriculture Ministry. “It preys on small fish, destroys their habitats, and takes over territories.”

“Its distribution is expanding,” he continued. “In areas where there used to be lobster colonies, you see that the lobsters have disappeared and lionfish have taken their place. When you catch a lionfish and cut it open, you find at least 10 small fish it has swallowed.”

“They like to live in rocky areas,” Rubinstein said, “but recently more and more lionfish have also been showing up in the nets of trawlers, which are dragged only over sand. That means they are everywhere.”

A single spawning by a female lionfish can yield 30,000 eggs. Studies have shown that in territories taken over by lionfish, local fish populations have declined by about 80%.

“This is a very problematic invasive species,” said Dr. Yuval Arbel, deputy director of Zalul. “Everywhere it has been allowed to reproduce, in the Caribbean or the........

© The Times of Israel