Stonefish!!!

[Spoiled]

The other day I went into a store that sold only fish. I was looking around, and suddenly I saw a fish tank that said "EXTREMELY POISONOUS!" in bright red letters. I looked inside the tank, and saw, of all horrers, a STONEFISH!!! Why would anyone want a fish that can kill you in less than 15 minutes if touched? These are extremely poisonous (like the sign said) and they live on the bottom of the ocean. If you see a rock on the bottom of the ocean, don't be stepping on it!

Don't you think its just a bit cruel and scary to sell these fish?

[glasslass]

They appear to be native to Australia. Why would anyone want one. I wouldn't want something like this to be turned loose and survive and thrive in local waters. I found this site. It looks positively prehistoric.

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/st...us/sverruc.htm

[Lucky Rescue]

I get so peeved at fish stores! There are all kinds of fish that should NOT be sold for home aquariums.

One example is the arowana. They are sold as cute 2 inch babies, but no where are you told that it grows into a voracious 4 foot predator.

Another is the popular Bala Shark (really a type of barb) NO home aquarium is big enough to house these fish when fully grown.

Not to mention pirhanas, which morons in warmer parts of the country will dump into local rivers when they are tired of them.

[melanie]

stone fish are grose. i always wear shoes on rocks and in muddy areas, i never ever go out onto the mud flaps, bugger that, oh so scary.
it is very rare to die from a stonefish sting in 15mins, i suppose if you were elderly or child yeah, its possible. you can get treated at hospital, and the aboriginal woman have a remedy to heal it, they use the sea cunjavoy. i dont know why anyone would want one for pets, perhaps exotic fish collectors could have some use for it. i have never seen them at the beach, only in aquaculture experiments at uni.
were they very expensive??

[Spoiled]

Yes, they were quite expensive. $140 I think.

[cmt489]

I have seen several stone fish while diving and the danger signal is generally given when one is spotted (to prevent someone from indavertently touching it). On the other hand, while ugly, they kind of lay on the bottom and don't move so they are easy subjects for underwater photography.....

Michelle

[Spoiled]

Maybe they aren't as scary as I thought? Do they jump?

[cmt489]

I have never seen one jump nor heard of one jumping...

[Spoiled]

Thats a relief. I had this picture of the stonefish jumping up to latch onto someone's foot!

[melanie]

the aquaculture experiments at uni involved setting up a small farm. many students used stonefish as they were abundant in the area (northern) and easy to farm. i used to go into the labs and stare at them in their little tanks, they are so ugly and hardly move at all, and a partly buried. i would love to meet someone who has one for a pet, i wonder why anyone would want them?? unless a specific fish collector i cant think of any other reason for it..

[theplainsjane]

The problem here lately--well, in Maryland. I'm in Virginia, but it's close enough-anyway, is snakehead fish which are native to Asia and which some people keep as pets. Some have just let them go into ponds. These fish can breathe on land (which I guess means they're not really fish, are they? :P) They eat *everything* and are destroying the ecosystem on the Potomac and it seems that the population has expanded enough that there's little hope of exterminating them. This causes more problems than just those within the ecosystem. It will require constant surveillance, etc. to keep the population down, which will be expensive and there's already no money for anything important.

There *should* be obedience classes for humans. Whosever signature that is is absolutely right.

[melanie]

i totally agree, these exotics shoud not be sold, as you know they can cause huge problems, and we just cant trust people to be that responsible, so they shouldnt have them.
a bit off topic, during the secound world war, the us army came to australia to set up bases and stuff. they had huge problems with mosquits, so they got some american mosquito fish to eat the larva and solve the problem (biological control). so they dump all these mosquito fish in the water ways, and what do you know, they dont eat our mossie larva. so they eat all the food available and out compete all the natives and it has been a huge problem ever since, these fish still roam and dominate.(they have done this heaps, the fox, the cane toad the list goes on)
it is funny, how one little creature can cause so much damage in a foriegn environment.
ps- some fish such as the lung fish can survive out of water, they are a very primative form of fish that didnt evlove all the way like others. funny to watch them breath, strange, very special creatures i would say