Kill the lionfish?

[James77]

That would make me feel bad. It's not that they aren't afraid to die, but that they don't know we are a threat.

As popular as lions are in the home aquarium, imo they should tend to capture them instead. It wouldn't be hard and I'd bet they could sell a live one to fish stores for a larger profit than dead to restaurants.

Meh....considering the amount of damage they have and will do, I wouldn't feel too bad. While the aquarium trade, adn restaurants are a definitley an almost obvious solution, Im not sure there would be enough demand or if it is worth the extra effort. I'd rather that effort be put towards killing more lionfish, this way the problem might be solved. Otherwise it would be treading water and more lions would end up dying in the long run. Get it over with

 

[James77]

Diving in Guam on more than one occasion i was completely surrounded by them. Kinda wigged me out since i couldn't see past them at all and it was dusk. I felt like Mario trying to dodge through them.

Like the movie "sphere" and the jellyfish.....don't know why, but that came to my mind right away......

 

[AlexS95]

Sorry if I missed it, but how did they get introduced to the Gulf areas from the Pacific?

 

[DanK13]

Like the movie "sphere" and the jellyfish.....don't know why, but that came to my mind right away......

Lol. Seriously. I honestly wished at the time I had a underwater video camera. I could have submitted it to Hollywood and been a millionaire

 

[vijaym85]

Maybe companies should stop importing them for a while or offer the import vs the domestic side by side and give the buyer the option to choose. Start catching and selling some of these for a cheap price, at least put them to use, seeing as most of them are going to die anyway, and let the local people make some cash off of them. I am sure this won't solve the problem, and hunting them will still be needed but if they sell them cheap vs the price of a import it would be cool for at a lucky few of them not to mention the would be buyers.

 

[Pallan]

i think Live aquaria does offer larger atlantic ones for cheaper then their pacific cousins from time to time.. just looked and not listed now but im sure ive seen them on there

 

[PufferPutz]

I have seen a couple episodes on Food Network or The Cooking Channel. They featured how resort chefs were starting to utilize the lion fish in their menus.

People who try it really seem to like it. The shows also had the angle of the chefs helping preserve/balance the ecosystems.

 

[Flaring Afro]

What do you do with the other 99.99% of the invasive population?

As you said a "live one" would be great but there aren't enough tanks for every lionfish around.

It does bring up a good point though: How many are sold per year in the trade?

I didn't think there were that many (relatively speaking). I mean, I knew there were a lot but I didn't think they reproduced and spread anywhere near like the snakeheads do (or did since those are just everywhere now). I just personally feel everyone is going with the motto to kill them when I feel it should be more towards capturing with killing on the side to fill in the extra.

One thing I'd like to know is how many of the same type are still being brought to our aquarium trade from their native home. imo people should be able to know if it's from florida at the lfs and on live aquaria etc and choose to support the situation in that way.

 

[rpjaws74]

maybe fish think the same about us!!! No natural predators and over fishing!

 

[BryanGoodson]

maybe fish think the same about us!!! No natural predators and over fishing!

When's the last time a fish invented something like the computer you posted this from?

 

[KafudaFish]

I didn't think there were that many (relatively speaking). I mean, I knew there were a lot but I didn't think they reproduced and spread anywhere near like the snakeheads do (or did since those are just everywhere now). I just personally feel everyone is going with the motto to kill them when I feel it should be more towards capturing with killing on the side to fill in the extra.

One thing I'd like to know is how many of the same type are still being brought to our aquarium trade from their native home. imo people should be able to know if it's from florida at the lfs and on live aquaria etc and choose to support the situation in that way.

Yes but if a snakehead has been found in a small body of water the treatment has been to kill everything in the water and hope for the best. If they get into a major river etc. it is game over which has happened now.
The snakeheads do the exact same thing that the lionfish do.

Again it is about numbers. Yes it would be good to get invasive ones for the trade but even if everyone who has ever been on RC got one for free regardless of tank size then what?

 

[karsseboom]

maybe fish think the same about us!!! No natural predators and over fishing!

You can't be serious....

 

[hllywd]

There are a few extremely naive views of this issue being expressed here. I dive a few times off Deerfield Beach, Florida every year when visiting. In the last two years I've gone from hearing about them, to seeing them on every dive.

I believe that if you kill every one you see on every dive you'll never eradicate them. Why? The range they live at is so wide, from the surface down to a suspected 500' or so is about 450' beyond what any recreational diver can reach. Live catch and sell them to pet shops? The market isn't that great. Supply would far outpace demand. Additionally, many I've seen would be far too large for my 210! Selling them to the aquarium trade isn't really part of a solution, there are just too many.

My personal view of the situation is that divers killing as many of them as possible is the best answer until a better way is found.

What to do with them? I say pan fried, or ceviche...

Tim

BTW, I don't think I saw it explained here, but I've read articles pointing to the source of the invasion leading back to hurricane Andrew in 1992. It's believed captive fish were released into the wild by the storm.

 

[Mxx]

Large eels, frogfish and other scorpion fish are all predators of lionfish in the wild...
http://lionfishhunter.blogspot.com/2008/08/lionfish-natural-preditors.html
Shall we go for another cane toad episode?

 

[r-balljunkie]

What to do with them? I say pan fried, or ceviche...

QUOTE]

WHOO HOO. I SAY LETS TURN THIS INTO A RECIPE THREAD!!

pan fried, with wasabe and soy sauce dip. mmmm

batter fried with a teriyaki glaze

blackened with a pontchartrain sauce

lionfish poke with macadamias

mmm mmmm.

 

[flyhigh123]

i personally would love to try a large lionfish. being on the west coast, i wouldnt mind if it was flash frozen...

 

[Fin Mike]

I'm a little concerned about fileting them without getting stung. Fileting fish is problematic enough when you have half a case of beer in ya. Maybe the alcohol will protect me from its venom. That's going to be my excuse to my wife anyway!

 

[hllywd]

I'm a little concerned about fileting them without getting stung. Fileting fish is problematic enough when you have half a case of beer in ya. Maybe the alcohol will protect me from its venom. That's going to be my excuse to my wife anyway!

You carry a set of shears with you and cut the venemous spines off before removing the fish from the spear so you can handle the fish safely. No problems stuffing then into a collection bag, or onto a stringer that way.

 

[Jeremy Blaze]

In my line of work we deal with many invasive species.

Very difficult to control.

We could list invasive plants and animals that have established themselves all day long.

As much of a fan of lionfish that I am, killing these are the only logical option to control.

 

[Luiz Rocha]

There are a few extremely naive views of this issue being expressed here. I dive a few times off Deerfield Beach, Florida every year when visiting. In the last two years I've gone from hearing about them, to seeing them on every dive.

I believe that if you kill every one you see on every dive you'll never eradicate them. Why? The range they live at is so wide, from the surface down to a suspected 500' or so is about 450' beyond what any recreational diver can reach. Live catch and sell them to pet shops? The market isn't that great. Supply would far outpace demand. Additionally, many I've seen would be far too large for my 210! Selling them to the aquarium trade isn't really part of a solution, there are just too many.

My personal view of the situation is that divers killing as many of them as possible is the best answer until a better way is found.

What to do with them? I say pan fried, or ceviche...

Tim

BTW, I don't think I saw it explained here, but I've read articles pointing to the source of the invasion leading back to hurricane Andrew in 1992. It's believed captive fish were released into the wild by the storm.

I agree, it is practically impossible to eradicate them at this point. I saw a video from a submarine at the Bahamas that recorded a Lionfish happily swimming around at 1,000 feet depth. But even if impossible to eradicate, keeping their populations down through fishing is still a good thing for the native populations in the reefs.

As for the source of the introduction, there are several hypotheses out there, but only two things are actually known for sure: 1) The introduction started with very few individuals, approximately around 20; and 2) they came from the aquarium trade. The actual source of the introduction is not well known.

The 1992 hurricane Andrew source is one of the explanations, but it is also entirely possible that they came from people releasing them in Florida when they got too big for their tanks. There are dozens of other Indo-Pacific species seen in the reefs in Florida, and the source of their introduction is likely the later (people don't want to kill or give away their fish if they get too big and just release them). Most of these other species haven't established viable populations yet, but if introductions continue they will soon be spreading out like the Lionfish.