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Posted by wolfdogg on November 21, 2008, 2:59 pm
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Rob Schuh wrote:
> I don't know how many have seen these stories, but Volitan Lions are
> becoming a HUGE problem from the Bahamas all the way up to MA. During the
> winter, they die up north, but they are making a huge dent in the small fish
> populations. I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and heard stories of Lionfish
> sightings going back to the late 70s, but if they were true, it was one fish
> that someone let out of a tank. They think that after Hurricane Andrew in
> 1992 a large # escaped and the DNA of 90% of these specimens goes back to
> only 6 individuals. Another problem with this invasion is that since the
> Lionfish has no natural predator there, they are growing larger than normal.
> The largest they normally get in the pacific is 14". They recently found a #
> of 17" specimens. Right now, Bermuda is on the cutting edge of eradicating
> this invader. IF they could keep the population in check, it would be a new
> and close source for Lionfish for the Aquarium trade, but many marine
> biologists believe they have to get rid of all of them because of their
> voracious appetite. One 12" Lionfish was found with 26 small grunts in it's
> belly. They have evolved to gorge themselves when food is available because
> pacific fish see them as predators where the Atlantic fish don't. Many
> divers say the small fish swim right up to the Lionfish and get swallowed up
> just like a gold fish does. I would hate to be working as any type of animal
> control agent in S. FL right now. Not only have they had problems for years
> with Peacock bass taking over lakes, but now they have the lionfish problem
> and the Burmese python explosion. At least they have a large natural
> predator for the python in the alligator, but it looks like man is going to
> have to go out and start to harvest the Lionfish as much as possible. We
> are talking about a few either. I have seen numerous videos where there are
> 6-10 Lionfish swimming around one large coral head. You can tell that it is
> not a video from the pacific as they are swimming through rows of Elkshorn
> coral. Besides these, there are many places where you can go throughout the
> Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area and see entire flocks of wild Macaws, Quaker
> Parakeets and many other foreign birds that have been let go. Luckily, the
> birds don't hurt the environment. These Lionfish are everywhere. A buddy of
> mine took his Zodiac off the beach just south of Ft. Lauderdale's main strip
> and saw 3 Lionfish. So far, it only seems to be the Volitan Lionfish.
>
this sucks, too bad for the environment, hopefully a larger predator
will reproduce enough to eradicate them before the lionfish run out of a
natural food supply
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> becoming a HUGE problem from the Bahamas all the way up to MA. During the
> winter, they die up north, but they are making a huge dent in the small fish
> populations. I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and heard stories of Lionfish
> sightings going back to the late 70s, but if they were true, it was one fish
> that someone let out of a tank. They think that after Hurricane Andrew in
> 1992 a large # escaped and the DNA of 90% of these specimens goes back to
> only 6 individuals. Another problem with this invasion is that since the
> Lionfish has no natural predator there, they are growing larger than normal.
> The largest they normally get in the pacific is 14". They recently found a #
> of 17" specimens. Right now, Bermuda is on the cutting edge of eradicating
> this invader. IF they could keep the population in check, it would be a new
> and close source for Lionfish for the Aquarium trade, but many marine
> biologists believe they have to get rid of all of them because of their
> voracious appetite. One 12" Lionfish was found with 26 small grunts in it's
> belly. They have evolved to gorge themselves when food is available because
> pacific fish see them as predators where the Atlantic fish don't. Many
> divers say the small fish swim right up to the Lionfish and get swallowed up
> just like a gold fish does. I would hate to be working as any type of animal
> control agent in S. FL right now. Not only have they had problems for years
> with Peacock bass taking over lakes, but now they have the lionfish problem
> and the Burmese python explosion. At least they have a large natural
> predator for the python in the alligator, but it looks like man is going to
> have to go out and start to harvest the Lionfish as much as possible. We
> are talking about a few either. I have seen numerous videos where there are
> 6-10 Lionfish swimming around one large coral head. You can tell that it is
> not a video from the pacific as they are swimming through rows of Elkshorn
> coral. Besides these, there are many places where you can go throughout the
> Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area and see entire flocks of wild Macaws, Quaker
> Parakeets and many other foreign birds that have been let go. Luckily, the
> birds don't hurt the environment. These Lionfish are everywhere. A buddy of
> mine took his Zodiac off the beach just south of Ft. Lauderdale's main strip
> and saw 3 Lionfish. So far, it only seems to be the Volitan Lionfish.
>