Bahamas Lionfish survey/vacation (pictures)

[fishome25]

Over the past week I had a chance to volunteer with NOAA and REEF with a survey of the Bahama water for lionfish. I think most of you are aware, but for those who haven't heard, 2 species of lionfish (volitans and miles) are now being seen in the Atlantic ocean. This of course is not good news since they are not native to here, but rather in the indo-pacific region. Over 5 days of diving over 60 were found and most were collected for research.

Oh, I found the smallest lionfish the research group has yet to come across!

 

[fishome25]

Baracuda getting his eyeball cleaned by a goby.

 

[billsreef]

Nice pictures, but depressing at the same time.

 

[Reef Junkie]

Incredible Tom!

 

[vyger]

Great pictures Tom....
Specifically what's the negative impact of them being in the Atlantic??

 

[billsreef]

Bill,

Think large hungry predator with no natural predators of it's own They will compete with local predators for the available food as well as putting additional strain on prey species and juvenile fish like flounder, etc.

BTW, I haven't confirmed it yet, but someone was telling me that they heard of lionfish overwintering in Rhode Island :eek1:

 

[Spracklcat]

Bill--don't we have tropical species overwintering here on LI around power plants where the water temperature is artificially elevated all year round?

 

[billsreef]

Christine,

Yup, tropicals are known to overwinter in the warm water effluent of some of the power plants.

 

[terranova]

Jealoussssss.

I'd like to say that this type of thing/research is what i'm going to college for. :lmao:

 

[Reef Junkie]

Bill,
I know this isn't a good thing.
I wonder if foreign coral species are going to start showing up in the Caribbean?

 

[bolt696]

I am getting married in Nassau Bahamas next month and would like to do a dive. I am not certified however I did dive twice in Cancun many many years ago. What is a good spot in the Bahamas to dive?

 

[fishome25]

stuart coves is out of nassau. prob be your best bet. even better would be to get certified before you go.

 

[billsreef]

Been digging into the overwintering bit. Right now it's looking like the guy that told me this misread some of an article about the northern most sighting of a P. volitans in Rhode Island that occurred back in September. The couple of articles about that lionfish that I found also included info from Australia (southern most natural range) that shows lionfish surviving down to 50F, but not below.

 

[fishome25]

I know last season I stopped seeing lionfish on my dives long before I stopped seeing butterflies, groupers and lizardfish. but i was at a dive shop and i overheard someone saying there is a part of RI or maybe Mass that gets hit w/ a warm cuurent all year and there is a bit of reef. they could live there. anybody know anything about that?

 

[billsreef]

RI and Cape Cod get the same effects from the Gulf Stream that we do. I don't think any areas up there stay warmer than us during the winter. I've got a good link on my PC at the lab for water temps and Gulf Stream tracking, I'll post it tomorrow.

 

[bolt696]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9856249#post9856249 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishome25
stuart coves is out of nassau. prob be your best bet. even better would be to get certified before you go.

I don't dive much and the few times I did I got a little sea sick underwater and never made it to the 2nd dive. The 1 dive was worth it though. I think the video and quick disclosure you sign in the dive shop is good for now. I still remember some of the hand signals and they only take you like 15 to 30 feet from what I remember.

 

[fishome25]

weird. never heard of someone getting seasick underwater. you don't rock back and forth. ya just kind of hover.