lionfish in the gulf of mexico

Spearing of invasive lionfish is recognized by NOAA as a good stop gap measure. Hopefully we can get them to “go back where they came from” haha. Just as is its over populated now, how much hunting will need to be don before lion fish are down to a population that is suitable for the ocean? We would like to thank Dr. T. Camarena Luhrs for the samples obtained from the Veracruz Coral Reef System National Park and to the fishermen from the Protected Natural Areas of Banco Chinchorro, Xcalak, and Puerto Morelos for help with the capture of specimens in the Mexican Caribbean. By 2000, lionfish had spread throughout the US eastern seaboard and into the Caribbean, before reaching the northern Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Great article…we wrote about this in our blog on my Dive Center’s website, (Sea Dwellers Dive Center of Key Largo).Thanks for the information. Invasive lionfish are disastrously out-breeding, out-living, out-eating and out-competing every other native fish in the Western Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Chevalier Monteagudo for collecting fish from the National Park “Península de Guanahacabibes”. What hasn’t been shown is their potential abundance and the related effect high lionfish numbers may have on the “economically important” reef fishes. “Table-fish” supplies commonly served in local restaurants, like grouper, snapper, tunas, etc., will become more difficult to catch in the supplies required and prices will necessarily go up as a result. I am doing a presentaion on invasive species and I thought the lionfish was a great choice. The loss of these cleaning stations presents the serious potential decline in the overall health of the creatures that depend upon them to stay healthy and disease-free.Commercially important species include, for sale, the fish and marine creatures delivered for human consumption and nutritional supplements and put into industrial uses such as pharmaceuticals, animal feeds, pigments, clothing (skins and pearls), fertilizers, etc. As lionfish predation continues to create unprecedented pressures on these local fisheries, traditional fishing and unique cultures inexorably tied to the sea are also threatened to near extinction.The impacts reach much further than just the divers and fishermen, however. :))Is anyone using a vacuum to collect them seems it would be safer, faster and easier?So although all is well with the idea of whipping out lion fish, my question is when will the hunt be “officially over”. Considering the larval period of the lionfish (20–35 days for planktonic dispersal prior to settlement; [Each circle represents a haplotype, the size corresponds to haplotype frequency, and the colors correspond to the localities sampled.

The captain aboard the ship that my wife and I stayed on for the week (liberty clipper, excellent trip) brought us to popular lion fish hangouts daily. Small fish will often congregate around a lionfish, most likely believing that the lionfish’s long spines, fin rays and feathery pectoral fins offer them shelter and protection from predators.

Why not relocate some of th4e fish to another area where food is needed. We found that lionfish collected along Mexican coasts show a similar haplotype composition (H02 followed by H01 and H04) to other Caribbean locations, and the H03 rare haplotype was not found.

I live in Belize and South Florida and agree that local awareness of the problem is very slow. No permits were required to collect specimens in Puerto Rico, and all samples were obtained from fishermen. Thanks for the information- it was really helpful. We are grateful to the Cuba Nacional Aquarium and “Instituto de Medicina Veterinaria de Cuba” for authorizing sample collection in Cuba, and especially to Dr. D. Cobián Rojas and P.P. Thanks to A. Martinez Arce (ECOSUR) for processing DNA samples and for her support during the laboratory work.