By TIMOTHY SCHWAB, Guardian Staff Reporter

tim@nasguard.com

"It hurts so much you want to chop your hand off."

Bruce Purdy, whose first contact with the poisonous spines of a lionfish prompted this quote, did not chop off his hand. He did, however, quietly suffer an "intense throbbing pain" in his hand for several hours, an experience he would re-live to a lesser degree 20 more times. In the dozens of underwater patrols for lionfish he conducts in and around the canals of Freeport, spearing lionfish in legion, he has been stung so often that he said he's built up an immunity. Now, he says, the effect is more like a pinprick than poison sting.

Lionfish are not known to attack humans, and their spines are designed as a defense mechanism, raising on their back when they feel threatened. Though there are few reports of humans being stuck unprovoked, lionfish are increasingly found in shallow waters around Nassau, meaning tourists and locals alike might be well advised to mind where they swim. An accidental brush with lionfish, though not deadly, can more than spoil an afternoon at the beach.

College of Bahamas student Marcy Tucker has speared dozens of lionfish around Nassau, including in shallow waters just off the shore of Cave's Beach, Cable Beach and Saunders Beach. He notes the potential for accidental contact with lionfish by swimmers.

"These fish aren't frightened fish. Usually a stingray will move (when you approach it in water), but the lionfish allow you to get pretty close without moving away," he said.

Purdy said that's especially the case with adult lionfish, which he describes as "arrogant" because they stand their ground when approached, so to speak.

The Department of Marine Resources has posted warnings throughout The Bahamas to swimmers and other sea goers to be wary of the lionfish, but department Director Michael Braynen said many Bahamians still don't know what lionfish are.

But some obviously do, evidenced by the number of Bahamians who are able to recognize the two dozen lionfish on display in an unmarked aquarium at Atlantis. Stephen Darville, a fisherman from Abaco was visiting the aquarium with his family Sunday, immediately knew the lionfish when he saw them.

That's because he's used to seeing them, he said. "Plenty," he said, and the numbers have grown significantly in the last two years. Abaco has some of the largest numbers of lionfish in The Bahamas.

Darville, like many of the tour guides and onlookers at Atlantis, believe the fish to be deadly, though there are no known cases of death from a lionfish sting.

A dive operator in Andros, Jeff Birch, said he's equipped all of his boats with epinephrine pins in case a diver has an especially strong reaction to a lionfish sting. The pins are used to draw a person out of shock, a potential consequence of a run-in with lionfish, Birch said. None of his divers has ever been stung, however.

The recommended remedy for the stings is to submerge the wound in hot water — as hot as you can withstand without scalding your skin. The hot water is supposed to help break down the poison, though Purdy said he found the pain to increase when submerged in water.

He also said that in some parts of Asia, where lionfish are native, people reportedly use sticks to pound their wounds "like they're tenderizing a steak."

The pain from the poison slowly recedes in the hours following contact, according to Purdy, none of whose stings has ever required medical attention.

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Larry Cartwright has given the green light for Bahamians to kill lionfish on sight, but those uninitiated with the poison spines of the fish will probably be best off leaving them alone and reporting the sightings to the department of fisheries or to the College of Bahamas' Marine Environmental Studies Institute, which plans on collecting sighting surveys.

For a good look at a lionfish, visit the aquarium at Atlantis, where about two dozen are on display in the area called "The Dig." Or, you might just go snorkeling off Cable Beach, where the fish have been seen in as little as four feet of water.