Lionfish, Navarre Beach, Florida

Hawkfish posted a photo:

I saw two small lionfish today while snorkeling at the Navarre Beach artificial snorkeling reef. These were my first observations of lionfish during near shore snorkeling excursions in the Florida Panhandle. This is just another example of the continued expansion of this invasive species in Atlantic waters. The lionfish were inhabiting two of the reef "pods" at the artificial snorkeling reef off Navarre Beach.