Please read "LION FISH"

[Spanky007]

We all love our Florida waters and this "invasion" is going to impact the little small patches of reef we have here in South Florida.

The lionfish, a native of the Pacific Ocean, is both gorgeous and dangerous. Many people may have never seen a lionfish in the waters surrounding Florida, but that will soon change.

Scientists don't use the word "invasion" lightly, but that's exactly what they are predicting of the exotic-looking lionfish.

Experts are so concerned about the impending invasion of lionfish they are desperately trying to warn the public.

"They're also very bold fish, especially in this new Atlantic range where it appears that they have few, if any, predators,".

Lionfish have no predators because they do not belong in the Atlantic Ocean. There is nothing here to eat them or stop them from eating Florida's reef fish.

When lionfish grow too big, aquarium owners begin dumping the fish right into the Atlantic Ocean.

Now they are breeding at a rapid pace, experts said.

Scientists and volunteers are feverishly trying to fight the invasion of lionfish.

To do this, they are studying - and killing - the lionfish, now found in deep and shallow water.

Once established, they will start destroying reefs and throwing the ecosystem out of balance.

This change will threaten the lobster, grouper, snapper and many more animals that call these waters their home.

New studies headed by Mark Hixon of Oregon State University are about to be published in a peer-reviewed science journal found one lionfish can deplete 79 percent of a reef in just five weeks.

That means coral ecology dies and algae takes over.

"You know the potential is there for it to be devastating," said Tom Jackson with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Jackson's job is to track invasive species and creatures that can sometimes change and destroy a vital ecosystem.

His personal opinion is it would be best to ban the sale of lionfish completely.

"In 2003, nearly 8,000 were imported to Tampa alone, 8,000. You only need 15 or 20 in one area to create a population," Jackson said.

Volunteers are being recruited to help stop the invasion of this species into the South Florida waters.

***I found 32 Lion fish in just 3 hours off the Stuart, Fl. inlet***

Scary....

 

[cur10u5g30rg3]

Dang, that is alot of lionfish in a short time. I usually see one per dive in the ft. lauderdale / West Palm Area. A few more in the keys. I plan to build a lionfish jig, to start carrying. While they a pretty, it is scary what they are capable of in our waters.

 

[jasonrp104]

While I agree with the statement that lionfish are becoming a problem, I think that putting the blame directly on the hobbiest might be a bit unfair. People also blamed he burmese python problem on hobbiests and then they found out that many of them came from a single source.

 

[billsreef]

Sounds like he's calling to close the barn door after the cows all left. It's not an impending invasion, it's already happened. DNA work has shown that the incredible numbers of lionfish now found in Atlantic tropical waters stem from all of 6 individuals. The oft quoted conjecture that they came from a tank broken during a hurricane has never actually been verified. One interesting theory of origin I heard was the possibility of egg masses escaping Atlantis in the Bahama's. They reportedly use semi open systems, and they do have a huge lionfish tank. However, that idea isn't any more verified than the broken aquarium idea.

 

[Spanky007]

I think it's important NOT to feel that blame has to be established. It's important to know that the problem is present. I love our oceans as much as the next guy.....

 

[karp12]

I went on a Lion fish tordiment this year in COZ... Most of them where feed to bigger groupers. See link..
http://www.bluemagicscuba.com/images/lion_fish_tournament_bluemagic.pdf

 

[gjh289]

I do my part to stop the invasion...........BBQ! They are delicious.

 

[chocki]

Lions have been coming in crappy lately..
Picky eaters, which should normally be an oxymoron.

 

[gregmoeck]

would have been cool if it was clown fish instead of lionfish

 

[JHemdal]

billsreef,

I've heard the Atlantis idea before, but the first sightings were in the Carolinas, on shipwrecks and then were found along the east coast of Florida. If you watch the sightings on a map over time, you see them move up the Gulf Stream, to Bermuda, then around to the outer Caribbean, back to Belize and THEN up to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. In fact, in a 2009 NPR story, they said "lionfish threaten the Bahamas" - so Atlantis is unlikely to be the epicenter because it was infested much later than elsewhere.
My hypothesis is that the original infestation started to the northwest of there - in Palm Beach county. This coincides with other extic releases made in the same area around the same time. I've said it before - IMO, somebody was dumping Pacific and Red Sea fish there with the specific intention of creating exotic populations that could then be exploited by collectors. It happened before with divers buying royal gramma from Haiti and placing them on reefs in the keys in order to try and start up populations there....

Jay

 

[billsreef]

billsreef,

I've heard the Atlantis idea before, but the first sightings were in the Carolinas, on shipwrecks and then were found along the east coast of Florida. If you watch the sightings on a map over time, you see them move up the Gulf Stream, to Bermuda, then around to the outer Caribbean, back to Belize and THEN up to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas.

Those shipwrecks are washed by the Gulf Stream, up current from the Bahama's, so I still find it conceivable.

My hypothesis is that the original infestation started to the northwest of there - in Palm Beach county. This coincides with other extic releases made in the same area around the same time. I've said it before - IMO, somebody was dumping Pacific and Red Sea fish there with the specific intention of creating exotic populations that could then be exploited by collectors.

I also believe your hypothesis is quite likely as well. Though most such attempts by collectors that I've heard of have been down in the keys.

Any way, one thing is for sure, man screwed up.

 

[Ryan-UF]

This was a while ago but I also heard the theory that they were introduced due to tanker ballasts. Seems a bit unreasonable, but may be possible if you consider juvenile lions in good health. They are pretty damn hardy, wasn't it common to break in tanks with these guys in the 70s/80s?

 

[billsreef]

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.

 

[Luiz Rocha]

It saddens me to say this, but all scientific evidence points to the fact that Lionfish are in the Atlantic to stay, there is absolutely nothing we can do at this point to stop the invasion. The last report I saw showed established populations in the entire Caribbean.

As far as the first introduction goes, it is believed to have been from at least six individuals in South Florida. The most accepted story is of an aquarium retailer in Miami that had all of its tanks dumped in a canal by hurricane Andrew in the mid 90s. There is a lot of genetic evidence to support this, and the introduction at the Bahamas theory (Atlantis) was pretty much disproven because in hundreds even after hundreds of specimens collected there, scientists only find a subset of the genetic diversity observed in Florida.

Last piece of news I saw about Lionfish was that two individuals were photographed by a submersible at 1000ft depth close to the Bahamas.

 

[Bluetangclan]

Surprised FMarini hasnt chimed in yet. From how it sounded last time I heard from him he was working in this field heavily. There are two species of lions, P. Miles and P. Volitans(I think, its been awhile) the differences I think being dorsal spine numbers and not anything obvious to someone without OCD.

While I side with the collectors theory, hasnt it been all but confirmed to have come from a beach house during Hurricane Andrew? Either way the blame isnt important, the solution is.

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.

I really dont like eating fish but as my sig says, I always ask for grilled Atlantic lion when I go to a resturant just to try and get it on the menu. Multiple people I have spoken to say it tastes awesome. If we start a demand for them, there will be a supply created.

We need to support lion spearfishing tournies. I dont think we will ever get rid of the problem short a biological weapon tailored for lions(bad idea) but we can at least mitigate the problem and keep it in check.

 

[devilsthird]

I dove in the Bahamas earlier this year and saw some giant Lionfish. They seemed to be all over the place. I wish I had known they tasted good!

 

[noobtothereef]

When we went snorkeling in puerto morelos near cancun, in 1 hour we probably saw 50-100 lionfish and not many other fish, saw some clowns and thats about it..... the guide said they kill them all the time

 

[Mandragen]

Yup off the coast here in NC they have destroyed a lot of the native species. They will eat anything. A lot of friends are saying that going down to favorite spots lately there is nothing but hundreds of them everywhere. No more tropical diversity that there used to be. It's very sad, but now they are all going to hunt them when they dive, lol.

 

[billsreef]

hasnt it been all but confirmed to have come from a beach house during Hurricane Andrew?

That was nothing more than widely repeated speculation. It originated with some reporter floating the idea, without actually having a source.

 

[stevie-o]

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.