The Rubber Funnel Is for Lobster and Debris. The Lionfish Already Know.
There is a moment on every good dive when the plan falls apart in the best way. You came for lobster and a reef cleanup. The reef had other ideas. A legal lobster is waving from a ledge, a wad of fishing line is wrapped on the coral, and then a lionfish is parked on the same piece of bottom like it paid for the site.
That is the job of the ZooKeeper Lobster & Marine Debris Rubber Funnel. It is a genuine ZooKeeper add-on. It is also very clear about what it is not.
Seriously: this rubber funnel is not for lionfish. Not “try it once.” Not “it was only one fish.” Lionfish spines can puncture rubber. A soft opening is the wrong tool the second a lionfish shows up. Lionfish stay in the standard ZooKeeper containment setup, the one with the tough slotted funnel built so you never have to handshake a fish with venomous opinions. If you need that unit, start with the ZooKeeper Lionfish and Marine Debris Containment Unit, or the 250th Special Edition if you want the anniversary model that still does the same no-touch work. The longer version of why that tube is the one for the venomous job is in why the ZooKeeper is the safe container and what makes a ZooKeeper the right device.
We learned that the unfunny way. Dropped in for lobster and debris. Rubber funnel on. Plan was simple: measure a bug, pull line off the coral, call it a good dive. Then the lionfish were there. Not one. The usual crowd that acts like the ledge is a timeshare. If you need the refresher on why that fish is pretty and still the problem, read Meet the Bad Guy and Ocean Invaders. Rubber funnel stayed closed. Buddy got the call. Buddy came over with the tough funnel, made the kill, and loaded them the way the system was built to load them. Hands off the spines. No improvising. No “it’ll probably be fine.”
That is the rule. Different fish, different door.
The rubber funnel is the other door. Lobster. Crab. Shells. Marine debris. The opening flexes, so you can get a hand in, grab the catch, and get the hand back out without a wrestling match at 40 feet. One per order. $15.95. It fits the ZooKeeper. It does not replace the lionfish funnel. The site has been saying the tube is for more than lionfish for a while. The photo contest write-up puts it plain: fill them with lobster, other catch, and debris. A cleanup and lionfish hunt day did both, on purpose, with the right opening for each job.
Think of it as shift work. Morning shift can be lobster and trash. The second a lionfish shows, the shift changes. Invasive lionfish get loaded hands-free through the molded replacement funnel. The story on why that funnel got thicker and tougher is on the molded funnel page. Head first, not sideways. Afternoon shift goes back to the reef cleanup and the grocery run. Monofilament, hooks, a crushed can, and one very surprised lobster. Different opening. Same tube. Less swearing, and nobody bleeding into a mask.
A few field notes from divers who have tried to negotiate with a lobster using only optimism:
- Measure first. A short lobster is not a consolation prize. The Lobster Gear Package pairs tough gloves with a lobster and stone crab gauge, because “it looked legal from this angle” is not a defense.
- Gloves on before the reach. Antennae are long. Attitudes are longer. The rest of the hunt kit is on the hunting gear page: ZooKeeper, gloves, sling, light, and a buddy who actually looks up.
- Debris goes in as you find it. Line left on the reef is tomorrow’s entanglement, and the rubber opening is happier taking a tangle than your fingers are.
- If lionfish crash the lobster dive, stop. Call the buddy with the tough funnel. Do not talk yourself into using the rubber one.
- If the tube needs a drain valve, or another genuine part, stay in the ZooKeeper parts shop. Authentic only. The reef does not need a mystery funnel from a group chat.
Still hunting on the way down? The ZooKeeper sling pole spear is the lionfish tool. The rubber funnel stays in the “other catch” pocket of the plan. Mix those jobs up and you will learn, quickly, why the product page leads with the warning. When the fish do come home the right way, baked lionfish with salted butter is the surface-interval reward. Want a reason to keep score, the Winter Lionfish Throw Down and the Throw Down FAQ are the place to start.
Proudly crafted and assembled in the USA, shipped from the US, and backed by a team that actually answers. If you get stuck between a lobster, a milk jug, and a lionfish that was not invited, the ZooKeeper team is the faster route. Shipping to a PO box, Puerto Rico, the USVI, or an APO is covered in the shipping post. New to the sport and already spending money you do not have, the underwater money pit is the warning label. The rest of the gear lives in the shop, and more stories live on the blog.
Bring the rubber funnel for the messy, tasty, trash-collecting half of the dive. When the lionfish show up anyway, leave them to the buddy with the tough funnel. The reef gets cleaner. Dinner gets measured. Nobody gets a spine through a soft opening.
That is the whole bit. Multipurpose your ZooKeeper. Just don’t get creative with the venomous ones. No touchy! No Pokey!
