Dying Lion Fish ?

[mcohen1021]

The scientific community needs to try to breed the disease so we can help spread it everywhere lion fish that shouldn't be!

Very intelligent idea...

The dead ones I see tend to have trident holes in them.

LMAO!!!!

 

[Compressor]

There have been recent sightings of schools of dead or sick lionfish. They have a large sore on the side almost like a cookie cutter shark hit them. But it appears that it may be a virus. Scientists are trying to sort out what is happening. Is it a virus? Which virus? Is it a threat to other species? At what depth is this occuring? Have they finally met their match? If you find any of these please contact REEF or Holden Harris at holdenharrius@ufl.edu. Holden is a PhD student studying them. They are interested in samples but there are special packing and shipping requirements to avoid contamination in the research sense. Other information like how many, where, what percent of the population, etc. would be useful.
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WOW. The fish are severely infected with whatever the organism is. The ocean continues to amaze me and probably most of us here on SB.

 

[Charred]

I'm not a marine biologist, just a scientist and a fisherman....

How do they determine that is a disease rather than a bite?

I've pulled up fish with wounds like that before and no one ever says its a disease, we just assume its a predator.

I think once you have caught enough of a certain fish, you start to observe the variations.

 

[Bob DBF]

How do they determine that is a disease rather than a bite?

The OP gave the contact information to the scientist that is studying the issue to find out, and needs information and samples.



Bob

 

[WinfieldNC]

I'm not a marine biologist, just a scientist and a fisherman....

How do they determine that is a disease rather than a bite?

I've pulled up fish with wounds like that before and no one ever says its a disease, we just assume its a predator.

I think once you have caught enough of a certain fish, you start to observe the variations.

Koch's postulates - Wikipedia

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I'm not a marine biologist, just a scientist and a fisherman....

How do they determine that is a disease rather than a bite?

I've pulled up fish with wounds like that before and no one ever says its a disease, we just assume its a predator.

I think once you have caught enough of a certain fish, you start to observe the variations.

I'm not a fisheries biologist, so take this with a grain of salt.

When I see a clean wound, I assume a bite out of the fish. This looks ulcerative to me, like a skin infection gone bad. There's gradation in color from the middle to the outside that make me think of disease spread from a central infection site, not a one-time bite. I don't know of any fish that would both attack a lionfish and leave a shallow and wide bite mark like that. Lamprey maybe do that? Some other parasitic fish that attaches? I've seen photos of fish with known infections, and they kind of look like these photos.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Maybe it’s a strain of herpes virus?
In the SF Bay there was a case of striped bass that had ulcerated sores on their bodies and IIRC they determined it to be a strain of a herpes type virus.
It’s also possible that it’s a stress induced infection of some sort. I know from keeping aquarium fish that when they stress out their fins start to rot and they get sores on their bodies and eventually die. This can be caused by bad water, or being in the company of the wrong fish, or the wrong diet, or many other things. Maybe lionfish aren’t as adaptable as everyone thinks?

 

[uncfnp]

I've pulled up fish with wounds like that before and no one ever says its a disease, we just assume its a predator.

That would be even better! But the lionfish has no natural predator here. That’s the problem.

 

[Compressor]

Obviously too early to tell what is going on but these kind of lesions are not normal in fish. If they get sick and act sickly, sharks will feast on them and put things in balance.

 

[mcohen1021]

Maybe it’s a strain of herpes virus?

I doubt the lions have been in contact with my ex lol