大象传媒

Alan Johnston presents insight, wit and analysis from 大象传媒 correspondents around the world. In this aquatic edition: Tim Ecott in the Cayman Islands and James Painter in the Peruvian Amazon.

The fish that ate everything

The lionfish, Pterois volitans, is beautiful to look at - as well as delicious to eat. But it's also Public Enemy Number One in much of the Caribbean - at least among marine experts and researchers. As an invasive, foreign species from the Pacific and Indian Oceans, it has few competitors and even fewer predators in Caribbean waters.

As Tim Ecott has been finding out in and around the Cayman Isles, down in the depths, a menacing invasion is underway - and the fight back may be a long one.

Peru's pink dolphins

Last year the Amazon region suffered one of its worst droughts since records began. Local wildlife - and the people who depend on it - suffered serious losses. Some computer projections suggest that as the planet heats up, there will be more of these severe dry spells in the Amazon. Among the species affected was the region's unique pink dolphin - an evolutionary curiosity cut off from its seagoing cousins for more than 10 million years.

James Painter has been looking at the impact that more serious droughts could have on the ecosystem of the deep Amazonian forest of Peru. He also asks: just why IS the pink dolphin pink?