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Sent by RTBmeDiver (View Profile: RTBmeDiver)
At CoCoView Resort (16.3N x 86.4W) on Roatan's south shore, we (the staff) have been spearing lionfish since the last quarter of 2009.
The majority of the spearing has occurred on twenty (20) core dive sites. Snappers, groupers, moray eels and lobsters have been observed, eating, wounded or dead lionfish. To date, no one diving with us has observed and/or reported, any fish, crustacean or other organism attacking a live lionfish and consuming it, on its own. In addition, no one has reported seeing any lionfish egg sacks or lionfish laying eggs in vivo.
Recently, two of our dive guides have reported seeing a moray eel and a grouper entering confined spaces where there were lionfish. These were two, separate incidents. In both cases, the lionfish fled from the assumed predator species. The predator failed to catch and consume the prey, in both incidents. Perhaps this is initial evidence, that Caribbean predators are learning to attack and eat lionfish without human intervention.
I have also heard that there are verbal reports from divers observing predator species attacking and consuming lionfish, of their own volition. These have apparently occurred in the Sandy Bay- West End Marine Reserve (RMSBWE). However, to date, to the best of my knowledge, no one has photographically documented any of these events. [FYI: The RMSBWE begins at Lawson Rock ( 86.5512 W x 16.3440N), on the north west side of Roatan; extending outward to sea and around the West End of Roatan to Key Hole ( 86.5800W x 16.2828N) on the south west side of Roatan]
Sincerely,
Doc Radawski
CoCo View Resort Roatan
-----------------------
in reference to a different author's published statement, Doc Radawski writes:
FYI: Stuart is a DJ (Captain Morgan) on Radio Roatan and also a PADI instructor and dive guide at Sueno del Mar on the West End. He is Canadian but we don't hold that against him.
Note his closing sentence, "Also we are seeing less lion fish on the dives sites since the first kill tournament."
Perhaps, we should consider setting up some other transects, besides the five (5) now in place and start doing lionfish counts.
We (CCV Staff) also think we are seeing less lionfish but the evidence is anecdotal and subjective.
He also wrote, " one grouper took a lion fish off spear spit it out to turn it around to consume it head first". This is extremely interesting to me. The groupers have evidently learned, they go down easier that way, although, I think, but am not positive, that groupers normally take their prey tail first, regardless of species.
The only picture I have seen of a Nassau Grouper eating a lionfish, shows the grouper taking the prey tail first. The lionfish in that pic looks like he is jammed in the grouper's throat. The photographer was running out of air and bottom time so we don't know how it ended. That pic was taken on a night dive in the Bahamas 2 or 3 years ago.[/COLOR]
Sincerely,
Doc Radawski
CoCo View Resort Roatan Scuba Roatan Diving located in Roatan, Honduras diving, scuba and snorkeling.
-----------------------------------------------
Belize Marine TREC wrote:
>
> We have been spearing Lionfish almost daily since last year in Belize.
> We have offered them to snapper, grouper and morays and have
> had no success in getting these fish to consume them. When left
> on the bottom wrasses pick at them. That is our experience so far.
> Also, our limited stomach content analysis has revealed only shrimp.
>
To add some additional anecdotal data to the story:
We have just returned from Carrie Bow Caye, Belize, where we dissected 11
lionfish. Stomach contents included shrimp (many), but also included:
1 stomatopod (!) (ed~Mantis Shrimp), a small serranid (probably a hamlet?), a Harlequin bass, a
long-spined squirrelfish, and a dusky squirrelfish. We also observed an
elongate, unidentified prey fish that was ~2/3 the length of the lionfish
predator, and a small unidentified fish with a damsel-like body shape. In
both cases, the fishes were too far digested to accurately ID using crude
visual assessment.
Only 2/11 lionfish had empty stomachs. (NOTE: we did not keep track of
time-of-day killed; which is likely to have a major influence on stomach
contents). 3/11 lionfish had only shrimp in their stomachs (no fish).
We did not observe any instances of other fishes consuming or attacking
lionfish.
Sincerely,
Randi R, Peter G, Jay D, Scott J, Zach F, and Walter
F
At CoCoView Resort (16.3N x 86.4W) on Roatan's south shore, we (the staff) have been spearing lionfish since the last quarter of 2009.
The majority of the spearing has occurred on twenty (20) core dive sites. Snappers, groupers, moray eels and lobsters have been observed, eating, wounded or dead lionfish. To date, no one diving with us has observed and/or reported, any fish, crustacean or other organism attacking a live lionfish and consuming it, on its own. In addition, no one has reported seeing any lionfish egg sacks or lionfish laying eggs in vivo.
Recently, two of our dive guides have reported seeing a moray eel and a grouper entering confined spaces where there were lionfish. These were two, separate incidents. In both cases, the lionfish fled from the assumed predator species. The predator failed to catch and consume the prey, in both incidents. Perhaps this is initial evidence, that Caribbean predators are learning to attack and eat lionfish without human intervention.
I have also heard that there are verbal reports from divers observing predator species attacking and consuming lionfish, of their own volition. These have apparently occurred in the Sandy Bay- West End Marine Reserve (RMSBWE). However, to date, to the best of my knowledge, no one has photographically documented any of these events. [FYI: The RMSBWE begins at Lawson Rock ( 86.5512 W x 16.3440N), on the north west side of Roatan; extending outward to sea and around the West End of Roatan to Key Hole ( 86.5800W x 16.2828N) on the south west side of Roatan]
Sincerely,
Doc Radawski
CoCo View Resort Roatan
-----------------------
in reference to a different author's published statement, Doc Radawski writes:
FYI: Stuart is a DJ (Captain Morgan) on Radio Roatan and also a PADI instructor and dive guide at Sueno del Mar on the West End. He is Canadian but we don't hold that against him.
Note his closing sentence, "Also we are seeing less lion fish on the dives sites since the first kill tournament."
Perhaps, we should consider setting up some other transects, besides the five (5) now in place and start doing lionfish counts.
We (CCV Staff) also think we are seeing less lionfish but the evidence is anecdotal and subjective.
He also wrote, " one grouper took a lion fish off spear spit it out to turn it around to consume it head first". This is extremely interesting to me. The groupers have evidently learned, they go down easier that way, although, I think, but am not positive, that groupers normally take their prey tail first, regardless of species.
The only picture I have seen of a Nassau Grouper eating a lionfish, shows the grouper taking the prey tail first. The lionfish in that pic looks like he is jammed in the grouper's throat. The photographer was running out of air and bottom time so we don't know how it ended. That pic was taken on a night dive in the Bahamas 2 or 3 years ago.[/COLOR]
Sincerely,
Doc Radawski
CoCo View Resort Roatan Scuba Roatan Diving located in Roatan, Honduras diving, scuba and snorkeling.
-----------------------------------------------
Belize Marine TREC wrote:
>
> We have been spearing Lionfish almost daily since last year in Belize.
> We have offered them to snapper, grouper and morays and have
> had no success in getting these fish to consume them. When left
> on the bottom wrasses pick at them. That is our experience so far.
> Also, our limited stomach content analysis has revealed only shrimp.
>
To add some additional anecdotal data to the story:
We have just returned from Carrie Bow Caye, Belize, where we dissected 11
lionfish. Stomach contents included shrimp (many), but also included:
1 stomatopod (!) (ed~Mantis Shrimp), a small serranid (probably a hamlet?), a Harlequin bass, a
long-spined squirrelfish, and a dusky squirrelfish. We also observed an
elongate, unidentified prey fish that was ~2/3 the length of the lionfish
predator, and a small unidentified fish with a damsel-like body shape. In
both cases, the fishes were too far digested to accurately ID using crude
visual assessment.
Only 2/11 lionfish had empty stomachs. (NOTE: we did not keep track of
time-of-day killed; which is likely to have a major influence on stomach
contents). 3/11 lionfish had only shrimp in their stomachs (no fish).
We did not observe any instances of other fishes consuming or attacking
lionfish.
Sincerely,
Randi R, Peter G, Jay D, Scott J, Zach F, and Walter
F
