Holy Crap! Surrounded by LIONFISH!

[WetDawg]

Dropped in on the Yellow Brick Road in Hollywood last night with a small group. We had not hit it in a few weeks so we figured it might big a good spot to shoot some sleepy hogs. Getting geared up I mentioned to the crew that I seemed to be seeing more lionfish these days maybe because we are more aware and actually looking for them. Kind of like those posters where you blur your vision then you can see the spaceship in 3D coming at you? Anyway, none of us had ever seen a lionfish on the YBR, until last night.

We saw 7 in one dive and I whacked 5 of them.

At one point on the rock pile just east of where the road starts we found a hole that had 3 in it, managed to shoot 2 in one shot with the 5 prong pole spear.

If anyone out there doubts that we are under attack from these invasive little buggers, they need to WAKE UP and GET INVOVLED!!

Every diver in South Florida should be prepared to whack or net these guys on EVERY dive. If you need to know how to handle the venomous spines please check out the videos on Lionfishkillers.org ... or contact me personally. I would be happy to come speak to you or your dive group.

Here is some good news, according to a Marine Biologist that spoke at the SFSC meeting on Tuesday; killing them in the Bahamas has had a positive impact. In the areas that have sponsored Lionfish Derbies they have seen significant reductions in the population.

We can make a difference but we need to act now.

How about a scubaboard.com Lionfish Rodeo? Who is in?

Thanks to Brian at Window to Nature for allowing me to post these...

 

[ONESPEED]

Good job last night.

 

[RickI]

Speaking of being surrounded, here's another consideration in caves, swim throughs and even wrecks. These guys group together in the daytime in these recesses. In the Bahamas you can see a bunch of lionfish clustered in narrow confines. If you're careful you may not get nailed, then again if they all go into defensive mode, spines erect, pointed and swimming towards you things could get interesting. We probably need to exercise additional care when swimming through confines as lionfish become more common.

Sorry to hear about the explosion in numbers, it sounds similar to what some have described in the Bahamas a while back. Glad you reduced their numbers during your dive. I understand repopulation can be astonishingly fast at times, so keep at it.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I have seen a couple small ones on the Yellow Brick Road, but not those numbers. Good job on getting the ones you did get.
Those buggers are getting closer and closer inshore. I didn't see a single one on a shore dive last year, and now I see one on almost every dive.
Hawaiian sling almost finished. Trying to figure out how to carry it without stabbing me! (Doof!)

 

[DebbyDiver]

Bravo, Wes! You going to be on SeaXP tomorrow? If so, please remember my mini-lionfish-eradicating-device. :kiss2:

 

[Cave Diver]

Thanks to Brian at Window to Nature for allowing me to post these...

That's a beautiful pic!

 

[DebbyDiver]

Is that a two-fer?

 

[sskasser]

We saw 6 on one dive last weekend on Juno Ledge. I'm up for a rodeo!

 

[Cave Diver]

Is that a two-fer?

I'm guessing it's a pic of this statement:

At one point on the rock pile just east of where the road starts we found a hole that had 3 in it, managed to shoot 2 in one shot with the 5 prong pole spear.

 

[DebbyDiver]

Missed that (quick read at work). Cool shot.