Divers find Lionfish in Croatia, marking alarming record northward invasion into the Mediterranean

The invasive lionfish has reached a new northern record in the Mediterranean Sea. Scuba divers captured two specimens (Pterois cf. miles) in the Croatian Adriatic, off the islands of Brac and Šolta. While these isolated findings do not confirm a widespread presence, they highlight the urgent need for monitoring to prevent potential ecological impacts.

Image: Joe Quinn/DepositPHotos

Two specimens of the common lionfish (Pterois cf. miles) were recorded in the central-eastern Adriatic Sea—one at a depth of 12 m near Rt Kobila on the island of Bra?, and the other at 9 m in Mija Luka Bay on the island of Šolta. Both were captured during scuba dives. These locations mark the northernmost sightings of the species in the Adriatic and Mediterranean to date. While these isolated findings do not confirm a widespread presence, they highlight the urgent need for monitoring to prevent potential ecological impacts.

History of Lionfish in the Mediterranean

A trawler caught the first recorded lionfish in the Mediterranean, off Israel in 1991. It was identified as Pterois miles. After a gap of over two decades, two more were found in Lebanon in 2012, followed by reports from Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, and Italy. By 2016, large groups seen in Cyprus led to the species being recognised as invasive. P. miles has since become well established in the eastern Mediterranean and continues spreading westward.

Another species, Pterois radiata, also lives in the northern Red Sea and shares similar ecological traits with P. miles. Though both species coexist on Red Sea reefs in comparable numbers, P. radiata has never established in the Mediterranean, perhaps due to its smaller size and more specialised habitat and diet specialisation.

Source

Ugrin, Nika et al, New northernmost records of the invasive species common lionfish Pterois cf. miles from the Mediterranean Sea // Book of Abstracts of the 2nd International Scientific Symposium Interdisciplinary Approach to the Scientific Research of the Adriatic Sea – InspireAdriatic May 2025, p. 49

Main image: Papichev Aleksandr/DepositPhotos