Fishermen in Lebanon suffer from the disappearance of local fish breeds such as red crabs, sea turtles and seabass (laks), replaced by invasive lion fish.

Now available on the coast of Lebanon is the Lion, a poisonous fish native to the Red Sea and the Indian Pacific, eating smaller fish and eating each other.

The expansion and deepening of the Suez Canal linking the Red Sea to the Red Sea in 2015 and the rising heat of the sea due to climate change have prompted the Lion to take a new habitat in the Mediterranean, according to environmental and aquaculture experts.

The rapid spread of lion fish has been widespread, threatening coral reefs and fisheries.

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the number of lion fish has increased dramatically over the past 15 years, in part because people have released unwanted fish from domestic aquariums, and these fish are damaging coral reefs in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.

The fish, with fins, were spotted for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea in 1991 and were not observed until 2012 off the coast of southern Lebanon, said Jason Hall-Spencer, a biologist. Since 2015 it has spread steadily in the region.

"He started seeing the fish three years ago but it was rare," said fisherman Atallah Siblini, a fishing specialist.

Environmentalists in Lebanon say the livelihood of fishermen and conservation of the marine environment may depend on people taking the lion.

The spread of this species is particularly problematic for the marine environment of Lebanon, which has been depleted by decades of overfishing and pollution.
Invasive fish lay eggs every four days and can put up to two million eggs a year to withstand ocean currents.

Hol-Spencer says the spread this year was "plague-like" across the eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, Turkey, Israel and Cyprus.

To reduce the problem in the long term, he wants to create a hook to close the salt water in the Suez Canal, which will prevent the transfer of species from one sea to another.

"Until that is done, the best thing is to catch the lion fish," Hol-Spencer said, "and also celebrate the fact that they are edible well."