Lionfish from International Coastal Cleanup 9/20/08, Fort Adams, RI

[SadiesMom]

Nice shot! Looks like a tiny little guy! As long as we have the invasive problem with lionsifh in the southern Atlantic, it's pretty wild to see those little juvies up here with the rest of the tropicals - but, that said, thank God our water's too cold for them to establish a breeding population here!

The last I heard, RI was as far north as they've been spotted because after the Gulf Stream hits us, it's deflected off into the North Atlantic.....but I also note in a Google search that a lot of sources say that juvie lionfish have only been spotted as far north as the NY Bight - guess they're a bit behind the times...I know that we've been spotting juvies up here for at least 3 summers....

 

[Tommy2tone_1999]

Nice shots. I have the same camera setup. I do hope you skewered the little bugger after you took his picture.

 

[geokr]

I think it is incredible (for the good or bad as said before) that the Lionfish has made it that far North. What is the farthest point South that have they been spotted (Caribbean or even farther south)?

This is a link to the current sighting map. You'll see that they've gotten as far south as Panama, Columbia and the ABCs. RI is about as far north as they get and should be dying off back to the Carolinas this winter.

Nonindigenous Fish Distribution Information