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Lionfish destroy Florida's native fish
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by Amy Judd | October 22, 2008 at 09:11 am
1484 views | 27 Recommendations | 25 comments
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When six exotic lionfish escaped into Biscayne Bay after Hurricane Andrew in 1992, no one thought that six would make too much difference to the ecosystem. However, sixteen years later, there are now thousands of lionfish in the Bay, causing what could be a catastrophic marine invasion.
Lionfish are hunters and killers, and are highly poisonous. They are normally found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They are the first non-native fish to be found in the Atlantic Ocean, where it is eating the native fish faster than they can breed to make up the numbers.
Their carnivorous activity could have a severe, un-thought of impact.
With its needle-sharp spines and red and white stripes, the lionfish's hunting prowess is enhanced by the fact that other fish find them so baffling. “They kind of resemble a big clump of seaweed. Native fish don't see them as predators, or even as other fish,” said Mark Hixon, a coral reef ecology expert at Oregon State University. “That allows them to approach other fish and just slurp them up.”
The Hurricane Andrew Six are believed to be among several of the lionfish army's founding fathers. Private aquarium owners may have also dumped lionfish in the sea over the years, compounding their spread along the eastern seaboard and into the Caribbean. Studies by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that numbers in some areas have risen from 22 per hectare (12,000 sq yards) in 2004 to 200 per hectare in 2008.
The concern is that the lionfish are not only depleting commercial fisheries but also destroying herbivorous species that are important in keeping coral reefs clean and free of seaweed.
Scientists are calling this potentially 'the most devastating marine invasion in history'.
Lionfish are also poisonous to human beings as their sting is so severe. Some of the scientists are looking at how to educate fishermen to catch them and restaurants to serve them as that could be a way to keep the numbers down.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (25)
at 13:06 on October 22nd, 2008
Lionfish photo taken at CA Academy of Sciences, San Francisco (www.calacademy.org)
msdon@pacbell.net has contributed a photo to this story.
at 11:27 on October 22nd, 2008
s427cobra has contributed a photo to this story.
at 11:42 on October 22nd, 2008
just been on 8 dives in Mauritius and saw a lot of lionfish was surprised at how many of them there were. there are quite a few pictures on my flickr of this fish if anyone needs to see more !
oklanicola has contributed a photo to this story.
at 11:50 on October 22nd, 2008
Great - thanks!
at 12:05 on October 22nd, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 12:09 on October 22nd, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 12:17 on October 22nd, 2008
Krazy Kessi has contributed a photo to this story.
at 12:36 on October 22nd, 2008
This lionfish belongs to our 75 gallon tank.
royalphotog has contributed a photo to this story.
at 13:28 on October 22nd, 2008
This lionfish is on display at the Baltimore National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland.
atomicknits has contributed a photo to this story.
at 13:50 on October 22nd, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 14:14 on October 22nd, 2008
Lionfish (Pterois lunalata, ミノカサゴ) are hardly rare in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but rank "exotic" when let loose on the defenseless denizens of the Atlantic.
My Flickr photostream has over a hundred shots. There will be more after this weekend.
at 16:09 on October 22nd, 2008
aww dont kill the fishy
spanishchica has contributed a photo to this story.
at 20:20 on October 22nd, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. That sucks
at 01:38 on October 23rd, 2008
photo taken at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Vixix has contributed a photo to this story.
at 13:42 on October 23rd, 2008
This lionfish is from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, CA.
Interesting story. I had no idea lionfish were causing such a problem.
peridot has contributed a photo to this story.
at 13:53 on October 23rd, 2008
That is a bit sad.
at 20:01 on October 24th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 06:36 on October 26th, 2008
Eugene Lim has contributed a photo to this story.
at 07:08 on October 28th, 2008
Lionfish, Aliwal Shoal, Durban, South Africa
andyhadfield has contributed a photo to this story.
at 10:25 on October 28th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 01:05 on October 29th, 2008
This photo was taken in Dahab, Egypt in 2006.
I have learned from an Israeli marine biologist that this is a new mutated version.
He has been studying lion fish since the 70s, and tells me that the feather is a new thing. This is the first ever published photo of the feathered lion fish.
Babel Film has contributed a photo to this story.
at 01:07 on October 29th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 03:45 on November 19th, 2008
I took this picture in the Red Sea, off the coast of Egypt. I've dived with hundreds of these fish at once. They are poisionous, but also shy. You leave them alone they'll leave you, so don't make them seem like a big danger. In the Indo-Pacific you'll find hundreds of thousands of lionfish with no adverse effects to the coral reefs. I think you'll find that commercial fishing is doing more damage to fish stocks than a few intruders that some short sighted individuals have introduced. Why not put your energies in to curbing the real problems? Man!
unluckyparrot has contributed a photo to this story.
at 04:19 on March 19th, 2009
The lion fish is a badass. he will kill you.
at 04:23 on March 19th, 2009
noone cares u fuckin cock sucker