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Live coral covers 68% of Tela Bay, on the northern coast of Honduras, creating a complex ecosystem that’s part of the wider Mesoamerican Reef system.
Among stressors including overfishing and coral bleaching due to climate change, is the invasive lionfish — a spectacular-looking, venomous, striped fish native to the Indo-Pacific that, with no natural predators here, is wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems throughout the Caribbean. |
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“These lionfish are so confident,” says Mario Motiño Jr., co-founder and divemaster for Tela Divers, a community group in the small city of Tela on the northern coast of Honduras. He’s talking about Pterois volitans and P. miles, spectacular striped fish native to the Indo-Pacific that, with no natural predators due to their venomous spines, are brazenly wreaking havoc on marine ecosystems throughout the Caribbean. “When we get close to them with our spears they don’t even move, we can get as close as we want to hunt them.“ |
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