Lionfish identification

[Jaws22]

driven by my boy Fuzzbucket, i was wondering about to identify the different species of lionfish. the three dendochirus species are pretty easy to tell apart, but the pterois species look pretty damn similar, and given the fact that pretty mcuh all of them are native to where i am, and given that im looking for some friends for Fuzzy, this would be useful to know.

 

[Deadeye]

Most of the pterois species are probably large enough to make a meal out of your current stocking, but some of the biggest differences I’ve noticed is color and fin length.
For
Example, volitans have shortest fins and are brown, while antenetta have very long fins and are red.

 

[Jaws22]

antenata also dont seem to grow that much bigger than fuzzy boi. the long fins are also something in radiata from what i can tell. the only one i can comfortably identify is mombasa i think

 

[Deadeye]

antenata also dont seem to grow that much bigger than fuzzy boi.

I feel like I’ve been lied to my whole life. I guess I always thought they got over 10”.
Just found this though:

Fish Identification

www.fishbase.se

 

[Jaws22]

damn theres so many more thsn i thought
and they. all . look. bloody. identical to me

 

[Deadeye]

I didn’t realize how similar they look until I saw them all lined up like that.

 

[Jaws22]

dude maybe the guy in charge just took multiple different pics of the same species and just labelled it diferrently. just to screw with us

 

[Deadeye]

I could believe it

 

[Jaws22]

and the fact that like you can find at least 3 or 4 of em here makes it even harder on me