The Invasion of the Red Lion Fish
2009-03-31 @ 05:19:45
There is a silent invasion going on which ending results could be catastrophic! The invasion of the lionfish native to the Indo-Pacific region.
courtesy U.S. Geological Survey
In the early 90’s it is believed that at least 9 lion fish (at least 8 females and at least 1 male) entered Florida water to which they are not indigenous, thought to have entered the waters from aquarium tanks either by accident or placed usually. Fish not indigenous to oceans they are native to, die off but the lion fish has thrived to the extent that they are now around 10cm bigger in their foreign environment as they are in their natural. The biggest one recorded being 43cm. that’s nearly half a meter! starting with at least the original 9 in Florida they have spread as far north as New Jersey and as far south as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil with numbers in the millions!
This is the concern; lionfish will eat anything, and a lot of it. They are extremely gluttonous. One captured lionfish was dissected and 22 juvenile grunts were found in the stomach of the lion fish which was only around 8 inches long. They have been observed eating around 20 small fish in just 30 minutes. They have been seen to eat fish half their own size, still with the tail hanging out of their mouth! Surveys show they can deplete up to 80% of reef in just 5 weeks and that’s just 1 lionfish. They have been found as deep as 500ft and as shallow as 2 ft. they have no natural predators. There is nothing to eat them or keep their numbers down. Except humans. They have venomous spines on the top, bottom and back. Should these spines pierce you, you would feel excruciating pain. The list goes on.
They are seen more in the morning when they eat. Mid-day, they usually ‘go indoors’ in caves, wrecks etc., where they can be seen hanging upside down under ledges. So watch your heads! Late afternoon they are seen feeding again.
Many organizations are taking action to try and prevent these from making an impact. For some, it may be too late. They are relatively new to the Caymans so we are trying to get on top of it right now. The Department of Environment is trying to remove as many as possible. With 30 or so removed from the waters already with another 65 or so reported. They have also licensed dive masters on the island to be able to capture them. It’s true they are a beautiful looking fish but they need to be removed to preserve the future of our underwater environment.
For more information check out these web sites;
http://www.reef.org, http://www.ccfhr.noaa.gov and http://www.gov.ky/portal/page?_pageid=1142,4332603&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
courtesy U.S. Geological Survey
In the early 90’s it is believed that at least 9 lion fish (at least 8 females and at least 1 male) entered Florida water to which they are not indigenous, thought to have entered the waters from aquarium tanks either by accident or placed usually. Fish not indigenous to oceans they are native to, die off but the lion fish has thrived to the extent that they are now around 10cm bigger in their foreign environment as they are in their natural. The biggest one recorded being 43cm. that’s nearly half a meter! starting with at least the original 9 in Florida they have spread as far north as New Jersey and as far south as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil with numbers in the millions!
This is the concern; lionfish will eat anything, and a lot of it. They are extremely gluttonous. One captured lionfish was dissected and 22 juvenile grunts were found in the stomach of the lion fish which was only around 8 inches long. They have been observed eating around 20 small fish in just 30 minutes. They have been seen to eat fish half their own size, still with the tail hanging out of their mouth! Surveys show they can deplete up to 80% of reef in just 5 weeks and that’s just 1 lionfish. They have been found as deep as 500ft and as shallow as 2 ft. they have no natural predators. There is nothing to eat them or keep their numbers down. Except humans. They have venomous spines on the top, bottom and back. Should these spines pierce you, you would feel excruciating pain. The list goes on.
They are seen more in the morning when they eat. Mid-day, they usually ‘go indoors’ in caves, wrecks etc., where they can be seen hanging upside down under ledges. So watch your heads! Late afternoon they are seen feeding again.
Many organizations are taking action to try and prevent these from making an impact. For some, it may be too late. They are relatively new to the Caymans so we are trying to get on top of it right now. The Department of Environment is trying to remove as many as possible. With 30 or so removed from the waters already with another 65 or so reported. They have also licensed dive masters on the island to be able to capture them. It’s true they are a beautiful looking fish but they need to be removed to preserve the future of our underwater environment.
For more information check out these web sites;
http://www.reef.org, http://www.ccfhr.noaa.gov and http://www.gov.ky/portal/page?_pageid=1142,4332603&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
