Does anyone have a Florida caught lionfish? + aquarists and the lionfish invasion

[pufferish]

I was reading up on some invasive species today and discovered it's legal to take lionfish from Florida waters and keep it as a pet. Has anyone done this?

 

[icy1155]

I don't want them in my mixed reef tank, but I do spear them whenever I see them on the reef. If Florida Fish & Wildlife Service was serious about getting rid of them they would make it legal to sell wild collected ones to the LFS without having to get a lot of expensive licenses. As it stands now, you need a commercial fishing license, a saltwater products license, and then you need to sell them to a wholesaler who can then sell them to a retailer. I bet a lot more would be caught if they made it legal for recreational fishermen/women to collect them and sell them direct to the LFS.

 

[Salty Cracker]

New law passed baning the sales of lionfish in Florida. Just like the snake heads in South Florida these were released from irresponsible owners. I fish for these two fish and they make great eating. I have speared hundreds of lionfish in the past couple of years. You don't even need a fishing license to spear lionfish.

 

[billsreef]

New law passed baning the sales of lionfish in Florida. Just like the snake heads in South Florida these were released from irresponsible owners. I fish for these two fish and they make great eating. I have speared hundreds of lionfish in the past couple of years. You don't even need a fishing license to spear lionfish.

That law bans the import. The ones caught locally aren't imported

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

They are invasive to the Florida reefs and taste delicious. I fish out of Marathon every year and we eat any that we catch.:thumbsup:

 

[reefer31]

We used to spear them in Cayman on a weekly basis, a few pounds at a time. I thought I saw few of them for sale that said from florida, I guess someone is doing it!

 

[ichthyogeek]

Wasn't there a big huzzoo about people getting ciguatera from eating the lionfish? I've also heard tales about large grouper eating lionfish without negative effects, as well as sharks being trained to hunt the lionfish...

 

[billsreef]

Yeah, ciguatera is a possible issue with eating lionfish...same as with any other predatory reef fish, such as snapper and grouper

 

[Hormigaquatica]

A lot of Florida livestock collectors include lions on their availability lists now. Personally, I only purchase FL sourced volitans for my shop. Not only does that help reduce invasive species (albeit in a tiny, tiny, tiny way), but the quality and health of FL volitans seems to be much higher than the ones that get exported from the Indo Pacific. Probably due to shorter collection/transport time.