Conservationists say that the red lionfish threatens the marine ecosystem in the region because of their voracious appetite for smaller fish that are a vital link in the food chain, local reports say . The only viable alternative is that divers and fisherman keep killing and eating them because traditional predators such as sharks don't see the incomer as prey. It seems that attempts to "teach" predators to attack lionfish by feeding them speared carcases have resulted in unintended consequences, with moray eels around the Cayman Islands now associating divers with food