HE first verified sighting of a lionfish in Bermuda waters came in April 2001. According to the island's marine conservation officer Sarah Manuel, since then the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo and the Department of Conservation Services have confirmed 30 sightings ? 18 of them in the past five months.

"We're not sure why there has been such an increase in sightings," Ms Manuel said. "It could be because there are growing numbers of lionfish here, or it could be because people are more aware of them and more inclined to report seeing them."

Divers and snorkellers who encounter lionfish should be wary of the animal's venomous defence mechanism.

Ms Manuel advised: "Sure, have a look at them, they're beautiful animals. But don't touch them. All of their spines are venomous, so stay back. I understand a sting can be extremely painful." Anyone who is stung is advised to seek medical attention immediately.

The official advice is to elevate the affected limb and to immerse the stung area in hot water ? as hot as can be tolerated. The heat breaks down the protein in the venom.

What threat the newcomer poses to Bermuda's delicate reef ecology is as yet unknown. Ms Manuel and her marine conservation colleagues are investigating and they are seeking help from the public.

"We are interested in people calling in and letting us know where and when they see them," she said. "They don't seem to be clustered in any one area, we've had sightings all over the Bermuda platform.

"When we see lionfish, we will attempt to capture them, so we can bring them back to the laboratory. Then we can measure them for length and judge by their external maturation whether they are reproducing. And we can also examine the contents of their stomachs to see what they are eating.

"They are predators, so they may well be competing for food with our own predators, like snappers. We don't yet know the sort of effect they might have on the environment.

"We don't think there is a lot we can do about it, however. Invasive species are always one of the biggest problems in any environment."

The lionfish are versatile in terms of what depths they frequent. In Bermuda one was found at a depth of two feet, while another one was found in a fisherman's lobster pot, 180 feet down.

release published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in July this year suggested that the lionfish could pose a real threat to local species.

"The invasive lionfish have few, if any, natural predators in their new Atlantic environment," the report stated. "They are voracious predators that feed on small shrimp and large fishes, including the young of important commercial fish species such as snapper and grouper."

The lionfish is high up in the food chain in its natural habitat and the Pacific cornetfish is one of few creature known to eat it.

In Bermuda waters, the lionfish may harm local predators not only by competing for their food supply and eating their young, but also by paralysing them with venom, should they try to eat it.

Lionfish are now proliferating in waters off the east coast of the US and have been found from Florida in the south to as far north as Long Island, New York.

A scientific paper published in December 2003 by the NOAA, authored by scientists Jonathan Hare and Paula Whitfield, found that there appeared to be a rising population of lionfish in the western Atlantic.

"Evidence indicates that the number of lionfish is increasing, but it is impossible to account for varying observational effort between years," stated the report.

"Lionfish were reported from three locations in 2000, 12 locations in 2001 and 41 locations in 2002. Although these numbers suggest an increase in lionfish abundance, they may also reflect greater public awareness and reporting, as well as a greater effort to observe lionfish."

scientists believe that the lionfish first showed up off Florida after being released into the Atlantic, whether deliberately or otherwise, by aquarium hobbyists. They have been observed sporadically by divers in the Sunshine State since 1994.

It is known that several lionfish were inadvertently let into Biscayne Bay in 1992, as a result of Hurricane Andrew destroying a private aquarium.

Bermuda prohibits the import of live fish to protect the island's endemic fishes from invasive species. The NOAA paper concluded that the most likely method of introduction of the lionfish into local waters was natural dispersal. Scientists believe that larvae spawned by the Florida population drifted in marine currents all the way to Bermuda.

While efforts are being made to monitor the situation, the NOAA paper concluded that any attempt to eradicate the species from the western Atlantic would be expensive and unsuccessful.

"A bounty could be established that would encourage the removal of fish and provide specimens for research," the report stated. "However the price would need to be lower than the price of the fish in the aquarium trade ($25-$50 each) to ensure that captured specimens were from the wild.

"Such a low bounty may not provide enough incentive for capturing lionfish in the wild. Further, such action would only increase the interaction between the public and lionfish, increasing the risk of lionfish envenomations."

If no action were taken against the Atlantic lionfish population, the NOAA predicted the following scenario:

The lionfish population will continue to grow.

Effects on the marine ecosystem will become more noticeable as the lionfish population grows.

There will be incidents of lionfish envenomations of divers and/or fishers.

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