Lionfish roundup

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Thanks Don. I just uploaded one of P. russelli. I don't know the species name of the first two but you are correct, definitely not P. volitans.







.
Ah, I see you added pics. The bottom one looks like the Volitans. No matter; all bad in the Atlantic and need to be reduced when possible. I need a holster for my carving fork.
 
Okay, now it's PERSONAL!!!

I got this item this morning through the Flower Gardens Banks National Marine Sanctuary network.

Journal Aquatic Invasions - Volume 5, Issue 2 (2010)
Item #6
lfonso Aguilar-Perera and Armin Tuz-Sulub
Non-native, invasive Red lionfish (Pterois volitans [Linnaeus, 1758]: Scorpaenidae), is first recorded in the southern Gulf of Mexico, off the northern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico (in press)


While I've been interested in the ongoing saga of the lionfish invasion almost since the first reports, it's been mostly an "academic" issue, since I rarely dive off the eastern seaboard or in the central Caribbean. Now, it's more than a scientific issue...those little beggars are in my backyard! I'm dreading the first report of lionfish on the Flower Gardens NMS, but I'm dead certain that it's just a matter of time. Since the FGBNMS is very closely monitored, I feel certain that once lionfish arrive, we will get a much better picture of the effects of the encroachment upon indigenous species. While that may be good for the science and study of the problem, I sure hate to see it happen.
 
The one time I got to go out to the Flower Gardens, we had a very knowledgeable fish expert onboard, super pleasant fellow, federal judge I think, married to an airline employee, who dived when not in session. I asked him if I had seen an Indo-Pacific O.niger trigger or something that just looked like that fish. He confirmed that they'd been there fore a while.
 
Yes, I believe I even have a picture of the trigger on Flower Gardens. although I can't seem to put my finger on that file at the moment (as I remember, it's not a great shot, either). We'll see how long it takes to get a shot of a lion there, I guess.
 
I was in Puerto Rico in January. The game wardens over there are encouraging people to notify them when they see lion fish. There are killing them because they are eating a lot of the juvinille queen angel and french angel. My friend is helping them by collecting as many as he can. On a 2 tank dive we did on a reef that is not deeper than 30ft we collected 30 small to medium size lion fish, that my friend sells to local and miami pet shops. We still left around another 10-15 that where to big for us to catch. They are a really bad infestation down there. Many of the divers down them collect them for sale or for their own personal aquariums.
 
There can be at least 2 species of Lionfish in Caribbean already: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4903829-post7.html

Does anyone know at what age they become poisonous?
Okay, the other one - P.miles - certainly resembles the P.volitans enough that I wouldn't know the difference, and the NOAA confirms that specie is on our Atlantic coast too. Sadly, these were probly introduced when they outgrew aquariums and hobbyists set them free.

Do you know how Starlings got started in the US?
 
There can be at least 2 species of Lionfish in Caribbean already: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4903829-post7.html

Does anyone know at what age they become poisonous?

They are trying to quell what appears to be an egg bundle hatching in Bonaire right now. They have a program in place where divers mark the location and then STINAPA goes out and captures them. I don't hold out much hope that they'll be successful but maybe a miracle will occur.

:blessing:
 

Back
Top Bottom