Please read "LION FISH"

[Bluetangclan]

@Noonbtothereef- Clowns in Cancun?

By scorpionfish I assume you mean besides other lionfish? I heard that stonefish would eat them but I think the problem is that no species feeds exclusively on lions and I doubt adding an extremely lethally venomous fish to the Carribbian would do anything but kill tourists and more native species. I think overall it would exacerbate the problem.

I am surprised Queen Triggers dont use lions as play toys

 

[stevie-o]

scorpionfish feed on lions

 

[Bluetangclan]

Stonefish are the only scorpion that I have heard will do it on occasion but they are definately not the prefered food. I think the other 20% of fish left on the reefs after lions show up would be dinner. Stonefish get a bit bigger I think than lions or at least ther mouths. I still think we would still have a large human death toll from their introduction, although maybe people would pay attention to the dont step on the bottom thing when diving.

 

[billsreef]

What would happen if scorpion fish got moved to florida? I know in the science realm sometimes moving more exotic fish to an area isn't a good idea, but lionfish produce way to fast they need something besides us to hunt them.

There already are native members of the scorpionfish family found in the Tropical West Atlantic, including southern Florida reefs.

As for introducing yet another exotic member of the scorpionfish family (lions are part of this family), I think the current issue with Lionfish shows just why this is a bad idea. Besides, so far in the history of mankind, anytime we've done such an introduction it has been an ecological disaster for native species.

 

[scuba guy ron]

The problem with the ballast tank idea is that larval fish need to eat a lot, and they only eat what they can see. The odds of a larval fish surviving a week long trip in the dark ballast tanks is very slim. Crustacean larvae survive ballasts tanks due to being better equipped for feeding in the dark.

Wouldnt this have happined initally when these fish were initally introduced to the north american hobbyist. They would have had to make this trip at some point.

This is my thinking. I'm a believer in the ship ballist thinking. the reason is due to this not being an open water fish. How else would this fish cross the gulf stream? swim from florida to the bahamas? or from the geater antilles to the keys?

People throw around the crazy idea also of storms relocating them. this idea doesnt make any sense to me since to this day different parts of the antilles have different species from say the keys. It would be as if a storm only picked up the lions!

maybe I'm wrong.... I'm defiitly not a scientist but I always tend to lean tword the easiest answer. just my 2 cents.

 

[billsreef]

Wouldnt this have happined initally when these fish were initally introduced to the north american hobbyist. They would have had to make this trip at some point.

This is my thinking. I'm a believer in the ship ballist thinking. the reason is due to this not being an open water fish. How else would this fish cross the gulf stream? swim from florida to the bahamas? or from the geater antilles to the keys?

People throw around the crazy idea also of storms relocating them. this idea doesnt make any sense to me since to this day different parts of the antilles have different species from say the keys. It would be as if a storm only picked up the lions!

maybe I'm wrong.... I'm defiitly not a scientist but I always tend to lean tword the easiest answer. just my 2 cents.

They initially made the trip to North American Hobbyist as juveniles or adults, packed in bags with O2

BTW, there are more than quite a few species of fish and invertebrates that found both in the Keys, Bermuda, Bahama's and the rest of the Tropical West Atlantic. So fish species do manage to make it across the Gulf Stream on their own

 

[Bluetangclan]

Here is some good news and hopefully its not just a fluke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGNGAlXZnKY&feature=player_embedded

 

[scuba guy ron]

I live in florida now but am from Buffalo NY. The Gobys that now infest the Great Lakes came in ship Ballast as well as the zebra mussles that can be found covering everything. Seeing this firsthand is why I believe the lions to come from Ballist Dumping.

 

[Ben Wilson]

They were everywhere in Grand Cayman. The local divers couldn't spearfish due to it being a marine sactuary so they would catch them in nets and bring them back to shore to kill they. All the dive shops had a running competition to see which shop could kill the most. It was kinda funny, they would let the divers come and take pictures of them and then when everyone moved on a DM would swoop down and net it. As far as the BBQ, I would love to try it, I have been told they are amazing to eat.

________
Ben

 

[Brewchief]

I just got back from Cancun last week where I took my 4 sons on their first dive.
We did two dives and saw Lionfish both times. The Divemaster said that they use spear guns when they don't have customers with them. He said that they are starting to see more of them all of the time.

 

[Noworries79]

Get a pole spear and do a good deed everytime you go. They aren't very fast. I think that the protected areas should make an exception when it comes to lionfish. Kind of defeats the purpose to protect an area so the lionfish can thrive. Just my 2 cents.

I guess there may be a problem with reef damage from spears though...doh!

 

[scuba guy ron]

Get a pole spear and do a good deed everytime you go. They aren't very fast. I think that the protected areas should make an exception when it comes to lionfish. Kind of defeats the purpose to protect an area so the lionfish can thrive. Just my 2 cents.

I guess there may be a problem with reef damage from spears though...doh!

we are heading down a dark path with these here in the us IMO. You see because of all the sew crazys now 90% of charter boats do not allow spears to be brought onboard for regular dive charters. I saw this first hand in the keys. Patrons of the charter were inquiring about the lion fish issue and were told they wouldnt be able to bring small spears with them onboard even after the charter crew was told they would only spear lions.

When I was in Curacao a few mos ago they asked everyone on the charter if they would like to bring a spear and were offering their use for free from their own supply for the lionfish.

I think the US problem will be a more serious problem then some of the carribean islands for this reason.

 

[Reeferhead]

We culled quiet a few when I was in Roatan last Fall. I really wish the DM would have given everyone a spear in our group. I guess its an insurance thing. Imagine if every diver on every recreational dive killed every lionfish they saw. I'm sure it wouldn't eliminate the problem but it would certainly put a dent in it.

I was so surprised in how tough these SOBs are. We kept a little guy alive in a mask case just sitting outside the Dive Shop for three days before a DM took it home to his tank. He has 12 of them in a 55 gallon!

Tried them as sushi, not bad

 

[thor32766]

I dont think we will erradicate them either. Hopefully nature will find its way of learning how to survive with them around. It

 

[Glove]

posted on or local reef club forums and I thought it was worth sharing...

All advanced diving classes should include spear fishing and how to prepair your catch!
:uzi::fish1:

 

[organism]

I'm surprised the boats down there don't just give out 4' polespears with barbless tips, basically just impale them one after another. They had a spearfishing tournament for them last year that I heard went great... Supposedly they taste really good, if I lived in the area I'd be eating them daily

 

[reefinmo]

Wow, that rate of growth is shocking. We need to make lionfish a trendy menu item at restaurants, and give it some fancy french-sounding name. That would help a little at least!

 

[hooterhead]

For one, why are we still importing Volitans/Miles from the Pacific? This has got to be one of the dumbest things we are doing when we have a large invasive population right here collectors can gather from. Due to the fact they are invasive, there is no limits to how many can be taken.

Because Caribbean suppliers are charging 4x what Indo/Phil suppliers do...

 

[psilver]

My understanding is that the lions are worst (most populous) in the Bahamas today... I recently was diving in Jamaica, and they are plentiful there... especially on the west side of the island, where few dive operators go... meaning the divers are hunting them, even if not to extinction, at least effectively enough to reduce the population size where they operate... we still saw many...

I purchased a high end spear for an instructor down there, that I will be sending off today in fact... these guides and instructors compete for the best catches of lions, and I want my guy to win... so to speak...

They do make good eating, tasting a bit like grouper, only sweeter... the locals make soup out of them, grill them up stuffed, pan fry them, and almost anything else you can come up with to add variety to the eating...

I too have heard from some at the URI Oceanography school that they have traced the DNA back to a small group of originals...

Something will eventually take advantage of the new food source, but so far it looks like nothing is taking it up... except those divers...

I agree, we need to encourage eating them, hunting them, contests for spearing them, etc.and yes, open up the collecting crowd to get as many as possible... and push for buying Atlantic caught ones in our stores and clubs...