The Sting of the Lionfish
As a preface to this article, I hope this experience doesn’t sway you away from lionfish hunting but let it be a reminder of being cautious while doing it. I have killed thousands of lionfish and have only been stung once.
I have been hunting the invasive lionfish for over 8 years. When I first was introduced to the sport in St. Croix USVI, my friend Katie, had a gnarly swollen hand from a lionfish encounter and warned me never to lose sight of them while killing them. From the look of her hand and her vivid details of fire and burning sensations, i was determined to avoid those spines at all costs. I prided myself on being cautious and never being hit by one of their venomous spines. Until a recent dive trip off the coast of Jacksonville, where the inevitable fate would cut my dive day short.
Prestine Sunrise
It was a gorgeous winter day with beautiful dive conditions. Our first dive went smoothly with phenomenal visibility, no Current, and 73 degree water in the middle of November! My buddy and captain, Russ, got his grouper and I quickly filled my Zookeeper with Lionfish. After the dive, we rested in the sunshine on the boat while the other divers did a dive.
As we headed down for a second dive I did not expect what was to come next. I was after lionfish but there was a ton of them and I missed a few. So Russ (Being russ) took my pole spear and shot a school of them. When he handed my Zookeeper back to me it was filled to the brim and then he handed me my spear with an extra lionfish on it. I tried to cram it into the zookeeper but it’s tail and a few venomous barbs were still sticking out of the funnel. Knowing it was not a good idea, but not wanting to let one free I left it as it was. I turned to look for Russ and the lionfish flapped it’s tail which caused the Zookeeper to spin around and land 2 of the barbs in my knuckle and in between my fingers.
At first, it just felt like a pin prick. Nothing to worry about. I thought, Maybe I won’t feel the venom the way the others did. A few seconds later, I get Russ’ attention and signal our ascent. On the way up I begin to feel a small stinging. Still thinking ok, this isn’t too bad, similar to a jelly fish sting…what is everyone complaining about? Once on board, I slip my glove off to find a bright red hand that is starting to go numb, burn and swell at the same time. Immediately my friends aboard bring me pain medicine and a warm compress because they know the pain I am about to be in. It is an indescribable pain. First it felt like the inside of my knuckles were on fire, literally burning. After about 10 minutes the pain began to travel up my arm causing numbness. The feeling is very similar to when your feet fall asleep except it gets worse if you move it around instead of better. At one point it felt like I might have a heart attack. I sat by the engine while we were idling and kept my hand under the HOT engine water coming out of the side. It was the only relief I could find. I took more pain medicine and it finally kicked in about 2 hours after the initial sting. I wrapped it in a towel and held it close. The open air continued to bring back the pain. Once back at the dock, about 6 hours later, the burning feeling began to subside. My entire hand was swollen and sore for about 5 days. 3 weeks later, I still have some soreness around the knuckles. I am thankful the swelling went down quickly and that it is healing nicely. I will never forget that pain.
Swollen hand after the sting.
The main purpose of this article is to remind myself and paint a picture for others of the intense pain of the venomous lionfish sting. Word of advice: Never let your guard down or become complacent when lionfish barbs are involved.
In case you do get stung here are some tips ( I am not a doctor, this is what worked for me ):
Warm Compress as quickly as possible. Zookeeper makes some specifically for this purpose. If you don’t have this the boat engines have warm/hot running water that worked wonders for me. Just be careful not to burn yourself!
Pain Medicine as quickly as possible. I can’t stress this enough. Take every 4 hours.
Benedryl and Ibprofen brought the pain and swelling down over the next few days.
To prevent Lionfish Stings:
Use the Lionfish Zookeeper. No other keeper works better.
Don’t overfill said Lionfish Zookeeper. Lionfish are meant to be kept inside.
Get one lionfish at a time and put it into the zookeeper directly from the pole spear.
DON’T TOUCH THE LION FISH.
Put lionfish on ice. After so long on ice, the venom goes away.
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