Lion Fish Invasion!

[Salty Dog24]

Scientists are blaming it on Aquarium Owners!

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1021/Lionfish-invasion-An-unabated-siege-of-the-Atlantic

 

[KafudaFish]

It would not be the first time AO could be blamed for this type of issue both in fresh and marine environments.

 

[IowaReefer]

I was diving in Roatan back in March and the marine biologists there thought it was probably partially AO, but also the fact that the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas has tons of lionfish and dumps all their untreated tank water directly into the ocean. Their theory was that the lionfish spawned in the gigantic tanks there and the eggs were released into the Caribbean.

That said, it was sure fun gigging them, they taste great!

 

[sirreal63]

Consider the source of the article, then ask yourself if you believe they do a lot of fact checking or if they have an agenda that might prevent them from reporting everything they found. They left out the biggest probable cause, ship ballast tanks.

 

[iamarchitecture]

Here in miami they are a kill on sight nuisance fish. Many of the seafood restaurants here serve them up in filets and must say they do taste great.

I do believe that owners are partially to blame but not 100%.

 

[gbru316]

Consider the source of the article, then ask yourself if you believe they do a lot of fact checking or if they have an agenda that might prevent them from reporting everything they found. They left out the biggest probable cause, ship ballast tanks.

The Christian Science Monitor is actually not religious in nature and has a good reputation.

Christian Science Monitor FAQ

 

[sirreal63]

Gbru, they do a good service overall but I distrust all news services equally. All of the news services claim to not have an agenda, but do you believe it? Often it is just as telling about what is left out as what is put in.

If you read the article it should be obvious they did not put much research into the problem and just wrote an article. This doesn't really address the issue, how it happened and how it can be prevented. Citing only that "some scientists" propose it was aquarium owners and not citing any other of the equally probable sources of how lion fish got into the Atlantic is just irresponsible. It begs the question why did they not cite any other of the possibilities?

Fortunately CSM is not given much viewership and there won't be throngs of people lined up at the LFS to bash people for buying lion fish. On the whole, it is just poor reporting, which happens 24/7 with all news services.

 

[billsreef]

They left out the biggest probable cause, ship ballast tanks.

While crustacean larvae are good at "marking time" when facing a starvation situation, larval fish don't do so well. The biggest problem with the ship ballast idea is the fact that larval fish need to see to eat, and they don't deal with starvation for long before they die. As a result, odds are not good for larval fish survival in ship ballast tanks.

There has also been a fair amount of scuttlebutt about some collectors/wholesalers deliberately introducing Indo Pacific species of fish in the attempt establish breeding populations locally. Just as likely a scenario as aquarium owners dumping unwanted fish, Atlantis egg balls/larval fish escape, etc. Only thing we know for sure, via genetics, is that the original adult population is only a half dozen fish. Also like every other invasive, they are here to stay

 

[sirreal63]

Bill, would they have to be larval stage fish? The inlets on those ballast tanks can be pretty big.

I would be all too willing to believe that someone intentionally introduced them, I think the same was deduced for the snake head problem as well. One of the biggest problems with not knowing how they got there, is preventing it from happening with other species in the future.

 

[billsreef]

The pump intakes for those ballast tanks are supposed to be screened. I'd also expect adult sized, or even large enough juvies to handle a couple of weeks starvation, to end up as chum going through the pumps.

 

[sirreal63]

You are more trusting of the state of repair or disrepair than I am on a lot of these ships. I have doubts the actual cause will ever be determined. I also have realistic doubts we will be able to prevent the same thing happening again. I believe I read where the snakeheads were traced back to a restraunt or fish supply that sold them as a delicacy and decided to grow their own. I could see the same thing happening with lion fish, it would be as plausible as any other explanation, and equally hard to stop from happening again.

A half dozen original fish narrows the possibilities down a little.