Pacific Predator Invades Atlantic

[ricki]

I just came across a short online reporting form for lionfish sightings,

http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/nccos/ccfhr...ishreport.aspx

If you have seen any please help NOAA to better understand what is going on with the invasion.


A short video clip about the invasion and quite a bit of other information appears at:
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/educati...h/welcome.html

A lot of good info appears at:
http://www.coastalscience.noaa.gov/d...ionfish_ia.pdf

Very interesting stuff.
I have to claim ignorance as a young guy on the idea of exotics and competition with native species.
Back when I was in high school I had a salt water fish tank. When things in it got too big for my tank I released some to the Gulf. The fish stores wouldn't take them back, so I released of couple of exotic moray eels to the Gulf by a huge rock formation near DeSoto fishing pier (we called them snowflake eels) as well as panther grouper. I included a pic.

Do you ever see any of those while diving? SO many people buy those panther groupers when they are small, then they grow really fast and eat everything, that I can't be the only one to have released one. I wonder if they have established populations in some areas.

Hard to believe some exotics are introduced on purpose by agencies for one reason or another and of course you know about larval inverts and ship ballast water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel

[ricki]

Haven't seen the eel before but quite a few soapfish similar to what is in the photo. Haven't heard of Panther Groupers before though. Tons of exotics have been introduced all over the place worldwide for a long time. Some don't make it, some cope while still others take over. It sounds like the lionfish may be well entrenched already.

Was just talking to someone over on North Andros, he said they had lionfish, enough to make it the national Bahamian fish. Noticed the image below on a site from the Exuma's. I haven't seen anything in the literature yet that indicates the invasion is as widespread as this. Looks like the lionfish may be here to stay at this point, warts and all. Have difficulty believing all this came from six fish that might have survived a 15 ft. plus storm surge that bashed through a house in Miami 15 years ago.


From: Bahamas Diving - Custom Dive Charters in Exuma and Nassau Bahamas

Yeah. I am sure that thousands of people have released lionfish from their home aquariums. "Panther grouper" is actually the pet store name for the fish in the photo. It is indeed a type of soapfish. It loses its spots and looks rather dull as an adult.

[kent]

actually most of these fish likly came from the ballast tanks from in bound freighters. This is also the case for damaging plant life as well. The large freighters generally carry around 1 million - 5 million gallons of water used as ballast. There are ships that actally carrry up to 20 million gallons! This water is taken on very near to any port that they depart from. I know that SF Bay is suffering from some sort of weed that was imported this way and it has no growth control.

I'll pop a lyon fish or two if i see them!

Kent

[ricki]

Hey Kent,

Bilge water certainly is one of the theories in play currently. It certainly has done serious documented damage in fresh water areas like the Great Lakes. That is in the marine area of the Bay? I had heard of a number of fresh water impacts but yours may be the first saltwater issue that I have come across.

Yes, popping them is certainly one option. We are very adept at depleting desirable species, clearly enough. Maybe we can do a number on this not so welcome species that may well take out snapper and grouper fry.

[ricki]

NEWS FROM THE BAHAMAS

Just got back from Small Hope Bay Lodge near Fresh Creek on Andros. Lionfish are fairly common there. On one dive on the wall, we saw three inside a small head including a juvenal. My primary camera flooded (25 yrs. since the last time) so I had no camera to use at depth. Fortunately, Nick Goddard was carrying a nice housed Canon Rebel and graciously provided the five underwater photos used in this account.


The juvenal is labeled "A" with the two adults marked A and C at around 95 ft


A closer view of the trio

Nick is a dive instructor, hails from the UK and does an excellent job of running dives and instruction at Small Hope Bay Lodge just north of Fresh Creek. He comes from Marine Engineering and is on sabbatical in Andros.


Nick at the helm on the way to the reefs

Britt, also a very capable instructor and boat operator teams with Nick and other staff on runs out to the reefs several times a day. She told me about seeing 15 lionfish hanging around one of the steel channel marking structures offshore of the Fresh Creek inlet. Britt comes from a background in Geography, has a strong interest in expanding into cave diving and mapping. Like Nick, she is an effective but low key leader on the dives.

BTW, the diving is interesting and staff at SHB do an incredible job, excellent view, clear water, easy peaceful times ashore, good food, it's a great place to go hang out. The wall is impressive and comes up as shallow as 80 ft. in spots, there are a variety of blue holes to checkout and the shark dive is a hoot. We had about 12 reef sharks show up and swim around for 45 minutes. SHB is a low key, unpretentious place only 50 minutes away from Ft. Lauderdale, FL by plane. I am still evaluating this but it is possible this part of Andros may be treated to fairly regular, kiteable thermal winds. More about Small Hope Bay Lodge at: http://www.smallhope.com/


Britt checking things out

Later on in the dive we saw a particularly large lionfish at least 18 cm perhaps longer around 105 ft. near the edge of the wall.


The big guy




The head the big guy was in along the wall


Small Hope Bay Lodge is located just north of Andros Town on the northeast coast of Andros

On another dive along the wall, we saw FIVE lionfish distributed singly along the path of the dive.

I also met a long time resident of the area, Dr. Tim Turnbull who first dove the area in 1969. He is a marine biologist specializing in reef studies who estimates the lionfish first appeared in the area around 6 years ago.

Also, down in Key Largo I met a guy who remembers seeing lionfish around New Providence in the Bahamas about 20 years ago. I hope to receive more info from him about these old sightings.



SHB, less than an hour away from Florida

[ricki]

I just redid the video including content from both Bimini and Andros

I have actually learned how to process video sequences into something, sort of. Took long enough, sigh. Anyway, I have processed some of the lionfish sequences into a processed clip and have uploaded it with clearer compression on Vimeo resulting in a better video I think. Check it out above in the original posting on page one.

It also appears below:




CLICK the image to start the video

[captadamr]

Hey Rick,

We see quite a few around here (Nassau, East almost to Eleuthra and Friends have seen them in Exuma). Since we were spearing lobsters, it never hurts to get some extra target practice on lionfish. Havent left one alive yet.... Have a special spear without a barb, for easy removal, one shot to the brain and they are done after that. It may not be much, but im able to keep the reefs we frequent clean of lionfish, although I have at least 4 under our dock in the harbour