Lionfish Decimating Tropical Fish Populations, Threatening Coral Reefs

[Heliux]

Originally Posted by BEELZEBOB

dont tell Cheney....

Lol, might be a good thing to tell cheney because then he will just blast the rest of the lionfish out of the water with his shotgun

[fatman]

Originally Posted by BEELZEBOB

hmmmmmmmm i guess. are you a bonafied marine biologist?

IMHO, seems like the same common detramental effect seen WORLD WIDE of introducing a NON NATIVE SPECIES into an ecosystem.

not some dudes personal promotion. i mean after all, how long have you been studying the lionfish in the carribian?

Good day.

[fatman]

Originally Posted by Boomer

Lion Fish in the Eastern Alantic.

Here is a major ref. by the USGS with a Map
NAS - Species FactSheet

then there is NOAAA

NOAA SAYS INVASIVE SPECIES PREVENTION AND CONTROL FOCUS NEEDED ON NON-NATIVE LIONFISH
NOAA News Online (Story 2735)

and there are many, many other references on Lion Fish in the Atlantic

Thanks for the good info Boomer. Lion Fish, the wolf of the Pacific! Still an Awesome, Beautiful fish non the less. One of the few fish I still would consider keeping. At least they will not be aerial hunting the Lion Fish like they did the wolves in Alaska. Bounties would not surprise me though!

[SubRosa]

The impact of Lionfish along the eastern seaboard north of Hatteras will be about the same as the impact of the Queen Triggers that come up every year and freeze to death.And by the way does anyone here think that a Lionfish stands snowball's chance in hell in a one on one with a large trigger?And the Caribbean.Why haven't Lionfish decimated the Indo Pacific and the Red Sea?What magical animals exist in those waters that have no counterparts in the Tropical Atlantic?A huge Lionfish is a very small fish, in the big scheme.Many things will realize they're food.They're here to stay but only time will tell what impact they have.But this is at least as much of an opportunity as it is a crisis.

John

[Boomer]

One of my favorite fish also.

I understand the Wolf issue far more than most. Remember, I'm form Minnesota the only state, other than Alaska, that has a real wolf population. We have proteced our wolves for decades. There has been recent talks here now of removing them off the endangerd speices list, because the population is now so good here. The Wolf Research Center is also located in Minnesota and the worlds most renowned wolf expert, Dr David Mech, is also from Minnesota.

[Boomer]

John

Your comments are not even worthy of a comment. You need to do some reading and learning.

[fatman]

Means of Introduction: At least six lionfish were liberated into Biscayne Bay when a beach-side aquarium broke during Hurricane Andrew in August 1992 (Courtenay 1995). The most probable explanation for the arrival of the lionfish population in the Atlantic Ocean is via the aquarium trade (Whitfield et al. 2002; Semmens et al. 2004). It is also possible that lionfish may have been transported through ballast water of ships travelling from the Pacific Ocean.

At least someone does not believe the marine aquarium hobbyist is entirely to blame.

It is amazing with all the damage done to the reefs, by fishing, boating and extreme weather that it is always the marine aquarium hobbyist that is blamed first for all problems.

I find reports released by a government agency that list the total number of eggs laid by a lionfish without listing how few of those eggs ever become an adolescent, yet alone an adult, lionfish a bit to skewed towards sensationalism rather than sound scientific reporting.

[fatman]

Originally Posted by Boomer

One of my favorite fish also.

I understand the Wolf issue far more than most. Remember, I'm form Minnesota the only state, other than Alaska, that has a real wolf population. We have proteced our wolves for decades. There has been recent talks here now of removing them off the endangerd speices list, because the population is now so good here. The Wolf Research Center is also located in Minnesota and the worlds most renowned wolf expert, Dr David Mech, is also from Minnesota.

Alaskas laws and regulations governing the Fish and Wildlife Agency state that the agency is suppose to practise through game management methods that maintain the highest possible yield of subsistance and sport game hunting animals. That means as Moose are up at the top of the list as subsistance and game hunting and as wolves are not considered a game animal but a predator not sought for susbsistence or by game hunters they can be killed to levels that will increase the number of moose available for the hunters. Not a lot of protection for wolves in Alaska.

[Frankie]

I recently saw a documentary on corals reefs, there were a pair of large groupers trying to fend off a Lion fish from their hunting grounds. Needless to say the Lion fish was a formidable foe and was not impressed in the least by these known agressive fish. I have a feeling there are very few fish large or small that will bother atempting such a meal
I have no doubt that were going to hear a lot more in the coming years about this poisonous invader also.
Funny you should mention that about ships bringing them over in the ballasts Fatman, I recently mentioned this in another thread about Lion fish a few months ago. James Fatherree actually documented the proof about a year ago. I need to find out what issue Tropical Fish Hobbtist magazine i read this in. I have so many it will have to wait until tomorrow. It was in 07 I believe.

[Boomer]

Are you sure Frank I do not see it listed. On another note, I did not know Jim was a invert paleontologist. I'm going to have to have a talk with him at MACNA on this, especially in regards to the Pierre Shale of South Dakota. I have been their many times but many, many years ago.

Bibliography

[Frankie]

Pretty sure. It was him or Daniel Pomfret. I'll go hunt it down to be sure though.

[Frankie]

SO far i found in 2/08
Stings of the Scorpaenids

Author: James W. Fatherree, MSc

And it's mentioned about him finding several in the Bahamas last year but I still have not found the article. I am pretty positive it was James. I think he writes for other magazines also and it might be in one of those. Give him a call and spare me the search! my library go's back to 2000 with this magazine alone! I am pretty sure it was him who acctually went into the ballast with a camera and found them in it.

[SubRosa]

Boomer can you be more specific?

[SubRosa]

Boomer if you can't be more specific we'll just have to conclude that you were merely expressing your feelings.If I hurt them I am so sorry!

John

[Boomer]

Ah, you have not hurt my fellings what makes you think that ? I did not get anymore e-mail notifications on this thread. I often do not get all the e-mail notifications. I just found this looking for something else on a search of myself.

So, in short, I think your comments are mostly noensense. You will not find Queens going after Volitans. You have not read the infomation given or posted or what has been written.