Lionfish...Okay this is funny

[sphillips3]

As it has been explained to me the problem with Lionfish in the Atlantic is as follows:

1) They have no natural predators in the Atlantic
2) They eat all the little reef fish (e.g. the babies)
3) If they get in the island Mangroves (where all the reef fish babies hide) all the reef fish on the Atlantic reefs will be gone in something like 20 years

The scientists I've talked to tell me this is a slow motion ecological disaster. Is there some hyperbole here? Maybe, but I don't know enough to tell.

 

[Guba]

While the situation might not be quite that bleak, I don't believe the hyperbole is exaggerated very far. While the "twenty year" timeframe may be a bit extreme, some reef systems are already seeing the effects of lionfish infestation.
While I thought the BREEF bulletin a bit humerous, it underscores how serious the situation is in some parts of the Caribbean. I was amused by the "eat more lionfish...tastes like chicken!" attitude, but it would be sobering to think any group might think this would be a way to control this predator's population. (For one thing, lionfish quite happily live deeper than recreational limits...we can't catch what we can't reach.) Of course it wouldn't work, and I don't think anyone really thinks it would. However, it is a clever way to draw attention to the area's plight, and I think that's exactly how the flyer was intended.

 

[cavew0man]

Well, this is one way to handle a "prickly problem". I received this from the FGBNMS/NOAA this morning. What an innovative way to address an ecological dilemma.

http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0012Hb0sYsM...V2dlViJA6PLxCmsjGSeyeB0i5vHdln08XCwJSafd0KIU=

So let's all get out there and do our part, right? Hey, I'll even VOLUNTEER to go catch a few...if someone would only take me along on a Bahama excursion!

Hmmm... it appears that many of your readers missed the "Okay this is funny" part.... I personally burst out laughing at the combination of nouveau cuisine and how not to let your lunch poison you.....

I'm thinking maybe this weekend I'll head out and do some bare-handed rattlesnake catching and fry 'em up.

 

[Guba]

I'm thinking maybe this weekend I'll head out and do some bare-handed rattlesnake catching and fry 'em up.

And no kidding, fried rattlesnake does, indeed, taste like chicken! (And yes, I have really eaten rattlesnake on a number of occasions.) Mmm, mmm, good!

 

[bleeb]

And no kidding, fried rattlesnake does, indeed, taste like chicken! (And yes, I have really eaten rattlesnake on a number of occasions.) Mmm, mmm, good!

Sounds like lionfish tastes pretty good: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4042389-post53.html

As for the stinger(s), at least it's easier to deal with than puffer fish, and plenty of those get eaten.

 

[String]

Well pufferfish isnt exactly non-toxic but people eat that!

 

[Biofish]

We get them all the way up North on Long Island, New York. You will not seem them controlled or eradicated, ever. They have quickly filled a niche with no predators, we are not going to make a difference. Instead we need to educated on how to treat injury and enhance our skills that we are not running into them. We just have to look into the other non-indigenous introductions to realize what will be. The "starling" they will never leave, "kudzu" the south will have this one forever although some is now being found right outside NYC. ..


NISbase: Nonindigenous Species Database Network

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I really hate to think how many injuries they're going to get if people pay any attention to that. Plus its a completely useless method of population control.

It goes beyond just hunting the lionfish - it also involves not hunting large grouper.

There is compelling research that where you have large grouper you have far fewer juvenile lionfish. It is assumed that large grouper eat small to medium sized lion fish. If you cultivate more large grouper (ie: stop shooting/catching them) so they can eat more small to medium sized lionfish, you will have far fewer large adult lionfish to breed more lionfish.

And if you have people hunt the large lionfish you directly deplete their numbers. Over time, such hunting can have a significant impact on a population - after all that is how we got to where we have so few large grouper.

Put the two together and you have a pretty reasonable management strategy - but it is one that requires you both kill adult lionfish and leave the grouper alone. Not real popular. The result is advertising and marketing efforts to promote lionfish as a food/sport fish.

 

[String]

Ive got no idea what predators lionfish have in the redsea/indo-pacific or how they actually attack (eggs, juvenile,adult etc) but there certainly isnt an issue there with the things. The system is nicely in balance.

I cant see how someone is ever going to stop people hunting grouper though. The entire country has the wrong mindset to start with.

 

[Doc]

Ive got no idea what predators lionfish have in the redsea/indo-pacific or how they actually attack (eggs, juvenile,adult etc) but there certainly isnt an issue there with the things. The system is nicely in balance.

They have no natural predators of which I am aware... balance is the key to their "natural" populations.

Their poisonous spines are not used for attack or feeding. They are merely passive defensive weapons. They eat little Crustaceans like Shrimp. They come up with very little motion and apparently good camouflage against being detected by their prey through movement.

When they are within striking distance, a flash of speed and a wide gaping mouth completes the attack.