Dried Seahorses on Isla Mujeres

[mcohen1021]

Speak for yourself, I never buy this kind of sh!t.

Neither do I

 

[ibj40]

reminds me of people that say they couldn't eat deer meat, but they are ok with cows. Whats the difference? most people don't consider cows cute like deer.

Would a similar comparison be Lionfish in the Pacific Ocean versus Lionfish in the Atlantic?

 

[Damselfish]

Would a similar comparison be Lionfish in the Pacific Ocean versus Lionfish in the Atlantic?

no, you're talking the same animal, and it's not a cuteness thing. Lionfish are native to the Pacific and have natural predators. In the Caribbean they are invasive without natural predators (though maybe some are learning they're tasty.) They eat a lot and are running amuck and reducing numbers of many fish.

 

[tarponchik]

no, you're talking the same animal, and it's not a cuteness thing. Lionfish are native to the Pacific and have natural predators. In the Caribbean they are invasive without natural predators (though maybe some are learning they're tasty.) They eat a lot and are running amuck and reducing numbers of many fish.

It is OK to kill and eat Lionfish in the Caribbean because it tastes good and is highly abundant, but the condemnation of Lionfish as a predator has a tint of hypocrisy. We, the humans, are reducing numbers of many fish in the 1st place.

Just look at what's happening in Curacao. 15 years ago this was largely an unknown, and 7 years ago it was still a remote place where you could spend a day hiking around the east coast tablas w/o spotting a single soul. Now Curacao has been "discovered" by mass tourism, and airlines and cruise ships bring in endless hordes of bored eurotrash, legions of American newlyweds and other useless people )) who all want to eat something, and the classic "supply and demand" chain results in over-fishing. The tablas are now part of the newly created Boka Shete National Park, and your only chance to take a photo w/o some fat guy bombing into the frame is before 10 am. But this is OK, I am an early bird anyway. I am more worried about what's going on underwater.

Plankton feeders are still doing OK; there are still large schools of Creole Wrasse and Brown Chromis around the reefs. Small and mid-sized predators, like Sanddivers, Hinds, Scorpionfish, Sharptail Eels and Goldentail Morays are doing good, as if there's no competition from Lionfish. Cowfish and Trunkfish seem to be fine. But everything else is badly depleted or gone.

The one and only Black Grouper we saw in 28 dives was maybe 8-10 inches long. Barracudas became rare, just 6 sightings (and I suspect some were duplicated). Same thing with large Green Morays, just 4 of them. Snappers are half-gone and mostly small, with a single 2-ft Cubera being a champion. So one group becoming extinct is large predators.

The 2nd such group are coral-scrappers, likely, because of the sorry state corals are in. Large parrotfishes, like Midnight and Rainbow, are gone for good, not a single sighting. Mid-sized parrotfishes, like Stoplight and Queen, are still there but there are fewer of them than before. Schools of Blue Tangs are uncommon now, we saw just 2 of them. And you have to go down to at least 80 ft to see an Angelfish.

There is this talk of Curacao "becoming the Singapore of the Caribbean", but from my diver's perspective it is quickly becoming another Jamaica of the Caribbean.

@agilis: Unfortunately, we already know too many examples of how seemingly abundant species became rare or extinct through over-harvesting.

 

[Damselfish]

It is OK to kill and eat Lionfish in the Caribbean because it tastes good and is highly abundant, but the condemnation of Lionfish as a predator has a tint of hypocrisy. We, the humans, are reducing numbers of many fish in the 1st place.

Hopefully you're not calling me a hypocrite. I simply answered a question with a couple facts. (It would be rather silly to "condemn" lionfish or any fish as a predator. If I was a hungry lionfish I'd be eating whatever I could too, whichever ocean I was in.)

(However, the fact that humans are a problem, does not make other problems not be problems. Invasive species are an actual problem, not just below water, and usually caused by humans somehow.)

 

[JamesBon92007]

Everything seems to be a traditional Chinese medicine or delicacy.

When I did the Manta Ray Night Dive on Kona they said the Chinese use the gill rakers of mantas as a cure for cancer or some such thing. Supposedly they get about $450 US for one large manta. I read that in Indonesia one manta ray can produce $1 Million US in revenue in it's lifetime. One site states that the combined annual revenue of 23 countries for manta ray "watching" is about $140 Million US. I didn't find anything (yet) on "seahorse watching" but my guess is that it's probably considerably more than they get for dried seahorses.

 

[JamesBon92007]

It is OK to kill and eat Lionfish in the Caribbean because it tastes good and is highly abundant, but the condemnation of Lionfish as a predator has a tint of hypocrisy. We, the humans, are reducing numbers of many fish in the 1st place.

The one and only Black Grouper we saw in 28 dives was maybe 8-10 inches long. Barracudas became rare, just 6 sightings (and I suspect some were duplicated). Same thing with large Green Morays, just 4 of them. Snappers are half-gone and mostly small, with a single 2-ft Cubera being a champion. So one group becoming extinct is large predators.

The 2nd such group are coral-scrappers, likely, because of the sorry state corals are in. Large parrotfishes, like Midnight and Rainbow, are gone for good, not a single sighting. Mid-sized parrotfishes, like Stoplight and Queen, are still there but there are fewer of them than before. Schools of Blue Tangs are uncommon now, we saw just 2 of them. And you have to go down to at least 80 ft to see an Angelfish.

@agilis: Unfortunately, we already know too many examples of how seemingly abundant species became rare or extinct through over-harvesting.

Humans may be a significant factor (grouper tacos etc are very popular on Isla Mujeres) but lionfish, from what I have read, eat young groupers and parrotfish (and other varieties) and supposedly are a direct threat to those particular fish populations. I don't recall any restaurant ever offering parrotfish, tang, or angelfish on their menu and we always ask what kind of fish they are serving in their tacos etc. I saw at least four large lionfish at IM recently and was somewhat surprised that the DMs did not bring anything to spear them. To avoid further hypocrisy I need to abstain from eating grouper but on recent dives I have seen several large groupers however they do appear on many "threatened" lists. I'd rather photograph them than eat them than eat them and not find any to photograph. I have never eaten lionfish but from everything I've seen and read they need to be exterminated from the Caribbean reefs.

 

[LoveOceanicGears]

When I did the Manta Ray Night Dive on Kona they said the Chinese use the gill rakers of mantas as a cure for cancer or some such thing.

Chinese also claims manta gill rakers are a traditional Chinese medicine, which is a total lie. There is no history of it as a "traditional Chinese medicine".

 

[tarponchik]

Humans may be a significant factor (grouper tacos etc are very popular on Isla Mujeres) but lionfish, from what I have read, eat young groupers and parrotfish (and other varieties) and supposedly are a direct threat to those particular fish populations. I don't recall any restaurant ever offering parrotfish, tang, or angelfish on their menu and we always ask what kind of fish they are serving in their tacos etc. I saw at least four large lionfish at IM recently and was somewhat surprised that the DMs did not bring anything to spear them. To avoid further hypocrisy I need to abstain from eating grouper but on recent dives I have seen several large groupers however they do appear on many "threatened" lists. I'd rather photograph them than eat them than eat them and not find any to photograph. I have never eaten lionfish but from everything I've seen and read they need to be exterminated from the Caribbean reefs.

I do not believe this works like that because what happened to the adult groupers? Roatan has a many lionfish as everybody else in the Caribbean, but they managed to turn their grouper population into a tourist attraction. If you dive the wreck you'll see some spectacular ones, including even Nassau Groupers that became extremely rare elsewhere even before the Lionfish invasion. We also probably have to thank the Bay Islands dreadful sandflies for marine life preservation because they prevent mass tourism.

As for the parrotfished and angelfishes, I blamed their extinction on coral bleaching (albeit I saw locals spearfishing parrotfish in Bonaire).

 

[Steve_C]

legions of American newlyweds and other useless people.

Way to win over people to your side. Coming across as bitter and only I see the light is usually not productive.