Invasive Lionfish in the UK?

[beautifulworldunderwater]

Has anybody here seen the news about the lionfish caught off the Dorset coast in the UK? A friend sent me a link to a funny article in The Sun - apparently, it is a genuine catch though. My thoughts are that it must be one that has been set free from somebody's fish tank perhaps - at the end of the summer the water should be warm enough to allow it to survive for a few days. What are your thoughts? Have you seen invasive lionfish in cold water areas? The lowest it gets here in Carriacou (Tropical Western Atlantic) is around 24 C during January, which is well within the lionfish's ideal range, so they absolutely thrive here.

As a budding blog writer (you may smile, but it keeps me busy & entertained these days when we are not going out diving so much), I thought I would do a little bit of research on invasive lionfish, which I find absolutely fascinating. I have put together a short article with interesting facts about invasive lionfish (links to my references are included in the text). Please let me know what you think!

The Tremendously Invasive Lionfish by Alexandra Ward

 

[clownfishsydney]

We get lionfish in Sydney, not a lot, but sometimes as many as four on a dive. Only small juveniles though. The maximum temperature is normally about 22C. Minimum is 15C. We see them even at the lower temperatures, but whether they survive too long at this temperature is hard to say, but they certainly do for weeks at 15C.

 

[100days-a-year]

They spawn prodigiously and it's possible the fry can catch a ride on currents.
Likely in ballast tanks of freighters as well.
I rarely saw large groups in waters cooler than 22C 70F- ish

 

[beautifulworldunderwater]

Here in Carriacou (in the West Indies) we have seen a massive growth in lionfish numbers in recent years. Literally from one or two on every other dive to up to 10 or 15, hence the reason why I have such an interest in them! We started our invasive lionfish containment project around 7 years ago and, to date, we have managed to keep the numbers down. At least on the dive sites we visit regularly... We know that we are never going to completely get rid of these incredibly tough fish, but as the fish market and many of our local restaurants now sell them very successfully, we hope at least that they will help to generate an income for our fishermen who go further afield and fish places that are often far from any seen by recreational divers. Are invasive lionfish sold for food where you live? We also make jewellery using the fins from invasive lionfish.

 

[100days-a-year]

There are tons sold in Fl, GA, NC and SC. My best year was a few thousand pounds personally. Talking to friends, the lionfish population is definitely not as much on reefs that see harvesting regularly.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

The Tremendously Invasive Lionfish by Alexandra Ward

A good introduction for people who may not be familiar with the underwater world.

 

[beautifulworldunderwater]

Would anybody have any good suggestions for homemade lionfish containment units? We previously made them out of PVC pipe, but pipe larger than 4.25" is difficult to get here (it's a very small island), and it doesn't take many lionfish to fill one of these. Any suggestions/first-hand experience on which designs work would be much appreciated. Low cost is also good. Thank you!

I recently wrote an article to inspire people to try lionfish hunting, and it got me thinking... We don't have any funnels left for our original style Zookeepers, so we need to have a crafting day soon!

Here is the article, by the way,
Save the Ocean by Hunting Invasive Lionfish

 

[100days-a-year]

I have seen heavy fabric bags attached to a zookeeper style tube. Grommets for drainage.

 

[ATJ]

We get lionfish in Sydney, not a lot, but sometimes as many as four on a dive. Only small juveniles though. The maximum temperature is normally about 22C. Minimum is 15C. We see them even at the lower temperatures, but whether they survive too long at this temperature is hard to say, but they certainly do for weeks at 15C.

I have seen quite large ones, too, Michael, even at Bare Island.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

Given enough evolutionary time, they will become a cold water species.