Lionfish...Okay this is funny

[MarkSteffen]

I would say this is a bad idea. I am sure there is a safe way to catch every animal, but to just tell people to hunt Lionfish?? Also as String said I do not think this will help with population control in any way.

Lionfish can be very dangerous. Are we sure someone isn't trying to control the diver population?

 

[Hatul]

In my mind hunting down Lionfish is along the same lines as hunting wolves because they attack livestock, or poisoning of Lions in Africa by farmers because they kill cattle.

Lionfish are not indigenous to the Atlantic but species migrate in nature as well and eventually it balances itself.

Adam

 

[Hank49]

Leave them alone and let nature take its course like we do!

Your sig line is rather...confusing? Kill the crown of thorns but save the lionfish...hmmm.
From what I've seen of COT invasions (Boracay 1998-99) they are more indicators of an already sick reef. The natural coral defenses are down due to weakened animals from high temperature or pollution.
The LIONFISH, however, can be dropped into a healthy Caribbean reef system and begin to dominate simply by devouring all the larval fish...especially the ones that could grow up to be its predator (groupers for instance).
But you're just joking anyway...right?

 

[packman]

I practice spear-and-release when I swim with our lionfish.

 

[IceIce]

I wouldn't ignore the possibility of the lionfish being released from aquarium, as human stupidity is the most possible thing. However, I would say if the solution is to introduce another predator or another prey for the lionfish, it will screw up worse, covering mistake with another mistake.

How if earth is really changing?
I read before there are reports of finding animals migrating to unusual places, but I don't have time to gather the info now.
Everything is changing, weather, temperature etc.

Is it possible that the lionfish are naturally there eventually, migrate?
Earth used to thought as flat before it's proven to be round.

My opinion is just, killing doesn't sound like solving the root of the problem. It just scratches the surface and eventually problem will arise again, with more scars and bruises.

 

[Guba]

From the studies currently being carried out, preliminary results indicate that natural migration is extremely unlikely. There is no "trail" of lionfish sightings between their natural habitat and where they are currently being sighted. In fact, their range is rather rapidly spreading from a fairly central point in the Carib northward, to the east and most recently to the west. The most likely culprit is unwise release of "tame" specimens. However, it is possible that there were "stowaways" in the ballast tanks of cargo ships. Regardless, it is unlikely that the lionfish invasion can be controlled in any realistic manner. The best we can do is to monitor their activity and take steps to minimize the damage. That most likely translates into efforts to assist species that are adversely impacted by lionfish over predation.

 

[Hank49]

I wouldn't ignore the possibility of the lionfish being released from aquarium, as human stupidity is the most possible thing.
Is it possible that the lionfish are naturally there eventually, migrate?
Earth used to thought as flat before it's proven to be round.

My opinion is just, killing doesn't sound like solving the root of the problem. It just scratches the surface and eventually problem will arise again, with more scars and bruises.

I've been told by one well known ichthyologist that the consensus now is that the source of the introduction came from an oceanarium in the Bahamas. They had lionfish in the exhibit and were pumping in seawater while discharging water that was not disinfected or filtered. This would, or could have released larval or juvenile lionfish into the surrounding waters...by the thousands. Given that the Bahamas seems to have the highest population in the Atlantic/Caribbean, this scenario makes sense.

 

[geokr]

I've been told by one well known ichthyologist that the consensus now is that the source of the introduction came from an oceanarium in the Bahamas. They had lionfish in the exhibit and were pumping in seawater while discharging water that was not disinfected or filtered. This would, or could have released larval or juvenile lionfish into the surrounding waters...by the thousands. Given that the Bahamas seems to have the highest population in the Atlantic/Caribbean, this scenario makes sense.

Makes sense. Atlantis is probably the culprit. They have a large tank filled with them for the resort tourists to view and the egg sacs could easily get through grates and pumped overboard. They sure got a mess of them all around there.

 

[gismonkey]

It sounds silly, but it's possible that efforts to help bring down lionfish numbers on reefs, even if it's only a local effect, may be helpful for recruitment and abundance of other coral reef species. There's a great new paper out that from some really sharp folks doing work in the Bahamas that shows that the introduction of individual lionfish to small reefs reduced overall reef fish recruitment by 79%.

 

[psychocabbage]

hmmm If I were asked what my #1 favorite fish ever was, its definately the Lion Fish.

I have 0 issue with them being successful. I hope to one day see them in the wild. I have seen one once in the Red Sea. The rest have been in tanks.

I think its interesting how "humans" have to meddle with everything and make it their problem to solve. If we never had scuba, would we really see this as an issue?

I think, when its all said and done, we will all stand back and laugh when we realize WE are our own worst problem.