One of Many finds in Southern Florida.

[ezhoops]

Lionfish....the other white meat


its whats for dinner!

 

[EllisJuan]

Sorry, I am not up on this topic. What kind of problems are the Lionfish causing? Nice catch OP.

 

[Gogandantess]

Yeah I started hating lionfish once I heard about the problem they're causing. It's not good at all. Wish there were predators for them.

 

[ssavader]

Gogandantess, remember that the Atlantic Lionfish problem is due to the carelessness of human's. Lionfish, which are normally found in the Indo-Pacific, did not naturally migrate to the Caribbean and Eastern Atlantic coast. They most likely arrived as a result of a combination of factors, including intentional release of "pet" fish that outgrew their tank or "usefulness", accidental release from fish farms, and flooding of fish farms that occurred during the last decade of hurricanes that struck Florida. These Lionfish are causing tremendous damage to native fish species, but they are not to be hated, but rather marveled for their adaptability. Despite many capture programs, infestations of this type by non-native species are rarely if ever effectively controlled, and the ultimate loser will be the environment, and secondarily, people.

 

[laud]

Sorry, I am not up on this topic. What kind of problems are the Lionfish causing? Nice catch OP.

They eat anything they can. Since they are not native, they are stealing the food from native fish.

While typing this I realized they are like humans.

 

[rmougey]

The Reef Environmental and Education Foundation (REEF) has been hosting several lion fish capture excursions. They have indeed published a lion fish cookbook which can be found here.

Lion fish have no predators in the Atlantic... nothing has evolved to want to eat them there. So for now, their spread is unchecked. The little fish of the Caribbean have lost, sadly.

 

[Eric the half-bee]

They are found far up the east coast in summer.

I know they are a fairly common around the NC offshore reefs

~Michael

In fact, they've been caught as far north as New York.

 

[acoff87]

i my self live in south florida, unfortunately i see them too often. every time i see one spear fishing i put it above all other targets. plus ive collected them without spears which is a bit tricky. ive actually seen more in the inlets then on the reefs offshore. and first hand i can say they are tasty i ate one that was about 13 inchs, the meat was delicious.

 

[ezhoops]

ironically they are easy to dis-assemble and safe to eat. There are many online videos of how to do this. Basically catch or spear the fish and use a pair of heavy duty scissors and cut off the spines. Thats it. Fresh fish.