What do the Lionfish eat in Western Florida waters?

[tarponchik]

As was mentioned they are mostly deeper than recreational limits during the day. There are people here that are tech divers that spend quite a bit of time between 150 and 200 feet and manage to get quite a few lion fish there but not all of us have the interest in going down there.

Probably, overfished already? I remember in Roatan in 2015 the DMs were catching 2-3 LFs every dive and I helped them happily. In Curacao in 2017 we saw up to 4-5 LFs every dive. I remember I found a giant barrel sponge at about 80 ft with 5 large LFs hiding inside.

 

[Steelyeyes]

Probably, overfished already? I remember in Roatan in 2015 the DMs were catching 2-3 LFs every dive and I helped them happily. In Curacao in 2017 we saw up to 4-5 LFs every dive. I remember I found a giant barrel sponge at about 80 ft with 5 large LFs hiding inside.

Apparently ours are well controlled. I hear that Curacao has larger numbers of them. When I look for them I go as deep as I can and still be there long enough to see something. I look for lesser used areas too. The people that hunt the park up north seem to get them in large numbers but the park is closed for the Covid lockdown right now.

 

[svs]

They will eat almost any marine creature it can fit into its mouth, up to 2/3 of its own body size and include fish that are commercially important- juvenile snapper, grouper, flounder and other common “table fish;” recreationally important – juvenile billfish, mahi mahi, wahoo, jacks, tuna and other prized “game fish

I do not remember seing many juvenile billfish floating around reefs and poking divers with their tiny bills. I suspect that some of the fish mentioned have life cycles not crossing hungry lionfish.

 

[Jake 10]

I'm looking for a picture of a baby billfish