Lionfish off North Carolina

[obxdivemaster]

I'm the mate who reported the original sighting of a lionfish on the wreck of the Proteus a few years back. For a few months I caught all kinds of grief:

"that's impossible" "you were narced" "you don't know what a lionfish is" etc.

Then another was spotted and this time we came back with photographic evidence.

Since then the things have multiplied and spread like flies. We see them everywhere now, on just about every wreck we dive. The closest to shore so far has been the Keshena, about 12 miles from the inlet in 85' of water. The most dramatic has been the Malchase. This wreck is in 205' of water in the neighborhood of 32 miles from shore. Here 20+ were counted within about 30' of the anchor.

Another interesting fact is that I have been able to identify two distinct varieties, the volitan (the popular aquarium variety) and the spotfin. The latter seems to be the most frequently seen. I'm not sure which one is more predominant as I had just learned how to distinguish the different varieties when Isabel abrubtly ended our season. A third variety is also possibly here as well. I can't say for sure, though, because my identification skills weren't fully developed when I saw him. At any rate, I'm planning on keeping better track of them this year.

I've heard the different theories about how they got here. I'm no expert but the ballast water full of eggs theory seems the most likely to me. There's just too many of them to have come from a few aquarium fish. At any rate there is definately a breeding population here.

BTW - I've had no trouble keeping one in a community tank as long as he is well fed with live food ie goldfish.

 

[archman]

I trust you're spearing them left and right? PLEASE tell me you're spearing them... I don't even fish, but I'd go flipping Rambo if I saw all the lionfish you're claiming.

Ballast water is a tough sell for fish larvae. They're la lot less hardy than invertebrate larvae. And only a tiny fraction of invertebrate larvae recruit to exotic locales. Off the top of my head I am not aware of any exotic fish species positively linked to ballast water, 'cept that short-haul stuff in the Great Lakes.

The aquarium source also faces extreme odds, but consider the animal in question. Lionfish tend to be released more often than most other fish, and a lot of these are dumped 'cuz they're too big for their tanks.
So now you're releasing a large, well-defended predator that's highly fecund (reproductively mature). Lionfish also live a long time. Adult fishes are far better at colonizing a new area, especially one with few predators. 'Course it's possible there's something inherently special about lionfish larvae I'm unaware about... that might swing it back to ballast water.

Regardless of what caused it, the populations are self-propagating now. That's very bad. Thankfully they're easy to spear. You don't even have to bring them back to the boat. Just go out with a single-barbed pole spear and have at it.