Stonefish

Beginning
The lead hooks the reader with a narrative opening. In the hot afternoon sun, the coastal ocean’s waves are peaceful. In the coral reef below, everything seems to be completely normal, but a second glance reveals the stonefish. It is hidden so well, in plain sight, that most animals wouldn’t give it a second glance. However, an unsuspecting fish just happens to swim by.

SNAP! In a flash, the fish is gone, and the stonefish has had its dinner.

A fisherman is walking along the shoreline and decides to go into the water. Just as he is putting his foot down, he feels a sharp and searing pain. He has stepped right on a deadly creature. The writer states the focus. The strange stonefish is the most venomous fish in the oceans. Read on to discover its appearance, habitat, diet, adaptations, and life cycle.

Middle
The writer uses headings to identify each new part. Appearance

Some physical features make the stonefish unique. First, it has two large, bulging eyes on each side of its head. After that, it has a big mouth that can open to be bigger than its body. Finally, there is something called a lachrymal saber below the eyes.

Attached to the head is the triangular-shaped body, with gills for breathing. On the stonefish’s back, there are 13 flesh-covered spines. With two venom glands for each at the base of the fins, the stonefish is deadly. It also has rough skin with wart-like things all over it so it looks like a rock. Another physical feature is that it doesn’t have a swim bladder (the organ that makes fish float). Finally, it has two large pectoral fins near the gills that help it move around very slowly. There is also something called the dorsal fin, which steers it in a certain direction and has spines on it as well.

Facts, statistics, and examples, bring the topic to life. The stonefish is relatively small, but its eggs are bigger than most ocean animals’ eggs at 0.06 inches. Usually, about 6–15 inches long, the largest stonefish ever recorded was about 20 inches—tennis racket size! It is usually brown or gray, the color of the stone. It also has splotches of red, orange, or yellow on its body, and has a white mouth. However, it can change all of those colors to hide from prey or predators. The stonefish uses its natural habitat to hide in the reef.A public domain image shows the fish’s appearance and includes a source credit.

Alan Slater, Dahab 2003, public domain

Habitat

The stonefish can be found in a lot of different areas from French Polynesia, to the Red Sea, to Japan, to Africa—always in tropical waters. It can even sometimes be found in rivers and the Mediterranean Sea. Stonefish normally live in a water depth of 11 feet or less, and sometimes even in tide pools. However, some stonefish dwell at depths of up to 130 feet. They hide in coral reefs, under rocky ledges, in the mud or sand on the seafloor, or by rocks covered with algae and coral.

Diet

The writer vividly describes the way the creature catches prey. Some of the foods the stonefish eats are small fish, shrimp, and other crustaceans. The stonefish has an interesting way of getting its food. It doesn’t hunt or gather. It just waits there camouflaged until a fish goes by it, and then eats it. It prepares its spot by digging a hole with its two pectoral fins and can sit motionless for hours upon hours until it senses prey. Its mouth has a vacuum, so it uses that to eat the fish whole, and the fish is gone in 0.013 seconds. It swallows them when they are least expecting it, an ambush.

Adaptations

The stonefish’s appearance and its ability to change color help it hide. When hiding, the stonefish looks like a stone. It rarely moves and can stay still for days.

Each paragraph focuses on a different adaptation. The stonefish’s venom also protects it from predators. It is the most venomous fish in the world. The venom comes from the spines on its back, with two venom glands for each spine. The spines usually stay down, but when the fish is angered, they go up, the venom glands burst, and the victim is injected with the neurotoxin. The stonefish releases an amount of venom equal to the amount of pressure on it. It can release up to six of its spines at a time, with enough venom to kill 1,000 mice. If victims don’t get medical treatment, they could die within hours.

Descriptive details paint a clear picture. The stonefish has one more adaptation—the lachrymal saber located just beneath the eyes. It is a switchblade, which means it comes out on both sides. The stonefish pushes the lachrymal saber with its cheekbones. It can cause nerve and cell damage resulting in cell decay. This helps the stonefish stab unwary predators.

Life Cycle

Stonefish usually live alone, except for mating season, and even then they don’t spend that long with each other. When stonefish meet up, they lay jelly-like eggs in sacks and bury them in the sand using their large pectoral fins. When the babies are born, they immediately have full camouflage and venomous spines. These newborn stonefish will live 58 years.

Treating Venom

The writer focuses on helping victims of the venom. Stonefish venom can be deadly, but luckily there is a way to treat it. If you get stung, get out of the water right away or when you pass out you will drown. The toxin can kill you, so find medical help immediately. Hospitals have anti-venom that can neutralize the toxins. If untreated, the venom causes spontaneous pain, difficulty breathing, convulsions, paralysis, tissue damage and decay, cell decay, and even death. If you can’t find a doctor, put your wound in hot water. Use tweezers to remove any spines from your skin, and whatever you do, don’t close the wound. It will make the venom worse. A stonefish can survive out of water for up to 24 hours, and even a dead stonefish can still kill you, so beware.

Ending
The writer sums up the report and ends with a surprising final fact. Conclusion

With its venomous spines for protection, the stonefish is one of the deadliest fish in the oceans. It has excellent camouflage and can stay still for days upon days, so it is pretty hard to spot. Despite all these dangers, some people in Japan actually eat stonefish. They are safe to eat if prepared correctly. “It’s like eating fried worms,” said Chef Jerome Itzen. “You’ll forget the taste but have a great story to tell afterward.” No thanks. I’ll let other people tell that story.