Livingston Lessons

I don't know why, but I still find it amazing that my friend in Hawaii can be in his car, driving home from work, and also be talking to me, here in Northern California. I could be standing in my garage looking for a hammer, and he could be at the pet store looking for feeder fish, while we casually talk about the ricockulous differences in weather. Is that not something to be amazed about? Yeah, I guess I'm just getting old. I still think a regular cordless "landline" phone is pretty cool. And I still say "cool" and "whatever".
Whatever.
So today Daryl is at a pet store, across the ocean where it's warm and the sun is still shining, telling me that he's picking up some dinner for his friends lionfish. He told me how this cannibalistic fish will only eat live goldfish, swallowing them whole. Well, I didn't know that, so here it is:

Lionfish eat whole, live goldfish for dinner.

I also learned a few more interesting little tidbits about this voracious predator.

They are also known as Turkey Fish, Dragon Fish and Scorpion Fish.
They have 3 anal spines, which are venomous.
There are also 2 pelvic and 12 or 13 dorsal venomous spines.
"Envenomation" is the word for getting stung, which is obvious but I've never heard it put that way.
In 2001, there was a series of 101, not 100 but 100 and ONE, "documented cases of captive lionfish envenomations in the US" (please tell me why I find that so funny) , where it was found that 0% of the patients experienced death.
The most interesting thing however, is that first aide for a lionfish sting is to immerse the wound in HOT water for about 30 minutes or until the pain diminishes. The pain from what, the sting or the hot water? The reason hot water works is because the poison is made of thermolabile proteins (I almost wrote thermolabia) which means it's vulnerable to heat.
(Thermolabile proteins sounds to me like the scientific term for hot sex)
And, last and least, people who keep fish are called "aquarists". I didn't know.

This kinda ruins the calming effect of the cute little lionfish in the aquarium at my dentists office.