Lionfish

[UFCroft]

Has anyone else noticed the lionfish that are appearing on the reefs in the Bahamas? I've seen them in the Abacos, Eluethera, Exumas and New Providence this year. Before this year I had only seen one in all my time over there. One of the locals told me that they're concerned with them eating up all the small groupers and snappers.

[islandshark633]

they are appearing all over from the bahamas, florida, bermuda and SE US states. The source is unknown but likely aquarium releases either intentional by people who cannot handle them or unintentional like hurricane damage and also spawn release from public aquariums such as the ex Coral world in Nassau and the current Atlantis.

There is a program to genetically map their progress, if you kill one you are supposed to take a strip off the belly and submit it to these guys in Texas somewhere. I may be able to find out more details from the local national trust here in the Bahamas. There is an erradication program running here but wether it will make any difference is not yet clear.

They are very agressive to the local fish population and will eat all the fry they can of the groupers and snappers, obviously they have no predators so their population will only increase at the expense of native species.

I saw 2 a few days ago at the north end of Long Island, Bahamas but had no means of safely killing them at the time. I heard of a guy getting stuck by one recently on a dive boat ( the fish was dead on the deck ) and he was in so much pain he was seriously considering cutting off his arm.........

[RiskTaker]

Are there any fish recipes for these fish?

Lionfish-poke for example.

Yes confirmed, they are being spotted more and more often here in South Florida..

We need to create a high demand for these fish. Then the commercial fishermen will be motivated to catch them ALL. Given the high public demand and the commercial where-with-all, it will only be a matter of time before their numbers are no longer ubiquitous. (This is a joke, but you could call it truth without the appropriate restrictions in place.)

Sorry, the politics is getting to me, after so much of the same. I am going back to work now. 12, 24, 36 and still building muscle. Pass the amino acids to keep it that way.

[mneptune]

Collect them and sell them to aquarium stores??? If it is the species I am thinking of they command a decent price as an aquarium fish.

Either I'm right or I'm

[edk]

Last weekend in Bimini there was a research vessel that was investigating the lionfish population in the area. They said that they removed five lionfish from the Hesperus (barge wreck NE of Bimini). There was a bait pen at one of the hotel marinas there that had a couple of lionfish in it that had been caught off one of the reefs. The research vessel said that there had been some trawls done on sea grass beds that caught some juvenile lionfish so they are apparently reproducing successfully.

Ed

[UFCroft]

Islandshark, is the government over there condoning the harvesting of them? I almost shot the ones I saw, because the first one almost stung me when I was looking in a hole for lobster, but didn't. Wonder if they count on my 20lb limit

[islandshark633]

I am not aware of the government even being aware of these fish or the damage they do as alien species. The National Trust are the ones advocating their demise. They seem to be highly successful here which comes as no surprise and killing them is a fairly logical thing to do IMO. But be careful if you do, even dead they can inflict terrible injury. I left the 2 I saw alone I did not want to go anywhere near them because of the risks involved.

I would think catching them alive to sell to aquarists would only perpetuate the problem that got them here in the first place, and its enevitable that someone will get stuck by one too!

I heard of clown fish being released from the old Coral World exibit in Nassau but evidently they die because they can not find the correct anemonies here.

[Beer Bones]

The government wants all persons to spear lionfish and discard once dead. They advocate leaving on the seabed. These things are EVERYWHERE, i killed close to ten last weekend. Terminate with extreem prejudice!

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Originally Posted by UFCroft

Islandshark, is the government over there condoning the harvesting of them? I almost shot the ones I saw, because the first one almost stung me when I was looking in a hole for lobster, but didn't. Wonder if they count on my 20lb limit

[islandshark633]

I talked to someone today who had spoken to Fisheries and their position is that they would like to see them all dead, but telling people to kill them and then having said people get stung is a bad situation. I would say kill 'em if you can but as you nearly found out, they can hit you hard if you make a mistake.

I have a bad feeling they may become a very big problem here as they have no natural ememies and will eat just about everything they can, spawn, fry and even lobster eggs.

[captadamr]

Its funny 2 days of 5hr diving and me nor my 2 brothers saw a single lionfish. We dove both the Northen coast and Southern Coast of New Providence. Maybe im just lucky my spots havent been invaded.

[pinder1]

was snorkeling with my son on sunday past at rose island and shot one that was about 10inches long , they are everywere from what i here. there's a group of biologists in Eleuthera that are looking into ways to control the population.

[DORADOsteve]

Originally Posted by islandshark633

I heard of clown fish being released from the old Coral World exibit in Nassau but evidently they die because they can not find the correct anemonies here.

They do not depend on a anemone to survive.

Lionfish in your/our waters- every last one of them.

[islandshark633]

They do not depend on a anemone to survive.


i did not know that, however, to my knowledge the clown fish have not been able to sustain a population here.

[The BEAST]

I have clown fish in my reef tank but have no anemones right now. They do fine because there is no predation. The anemones are essential to their survival because they offer protection from predators.

[krayzejava]

I spotted a few in the Exuma Cays 2 months ago on the north side of Norman’s Cay Beach could not believe my eyes. As BB said, terminate with extreme prejudice if possible.

[Bear Essentials II]

Hi,

I have dove extensively in Asia - home of the Lionfish (aka Turkeyfish). I am an Scuba instructor and have been informing my classes of the increasing populations in S. Florida waters.

You are right - they inflict a terrible sting when touched, but a thin wetskin should protect you - as long as it's neoprine - they go right through latex/spandex. Haven't heard of any deaths yet, but I'm sure someone with a weak heart will die and then we'll have a serious emergency on our hands when the news broadcasts pick it up.

From what I understand, they got established after Andrew as both public and private collections ended up in the ocean, from there, the problem continued.

If I were to shoot one, I wouldn't use a barbed spear point as getting the little bugger off would put my hand in danger (and I'm kind of attached to my hand). When I first started diving, we used a sprung steel affair consisting of three steel shafts each ending in a point. The entire assembly was attached to a pole spear. As it had no barbs, it would be perfect for attacking these little critters.

Just a thought

Lee and Terry
Bear Essentials II
Carver 42SS
Miami, FL

[DonK]

Where in Asia were you BEII? I was on Okinawa in the late 80's in the USMC...dove almost every day for a year. Lionfish were a pretty regular sight, as were sea snakes; thank god those buggers haven't been introduced here.

[Boboe]

So what controls the lionfish populations in Asian waters?

[Bear Essentials II]

Originally Posted by DonK

Where in Asia were you BEII? I was on Okinawa in the late 80's in the USMC...dove almost every day for a year. Lionfish were a pretty regular sight, as were sea snakes; thank god those buggers haven't been introduced here.

I was on Okinawa (second time) between 1982 and 1985 while in the Air Force. Lionfish were all over the place but we just gave them a wide berth and they left us alone. I agree with your observations regarding sea snakes! Geez, if you want to see someone really walking on water, put me in the vicinity of a sea snake!

I also dove extensively in the PI and Northern Japan (Misawa AB). Lionfish were very common in the PI, but none in Northern Japan - probably due to the much colder water.

Regarding what got them in Asian waters, well, I don't know. They aren't afraid of much, so I don't think any other critters feasted on them. Let me do some research and I'll get back to you on that one.