Lionfish Decimating Tropical Fish Populations, Threatening Coral Reefs

[Frankie]

The invasion of predatory lionfish in the Caribbean region poses yet another major threat there to coral reef ecosystems -- a new study has found that within a short period after the entry of lionfish into an area, the survival of other reef fishes is slashed by about 80 percent.
Lionfish Decimating Tropical Fish Populations, Threatening Coral Reefs

[Varga]

Now I dont feel so bad about the lion fish stuck in a 40 gallon in my local chinese restaurant

[Heliux]

Well... my favorite fish is pissing the world off... eh sounds like my type of fish

But really sucks, hope a reasonable solution is found.

-Bates

[Frankie]

Sounds like open season to me~

[fatman]

Being as less than 0.5 percent of fish make it to adult hood as it is, I find it hard to believe that the Lion fish is imposing the impact that is being speculated by the doctorate candidate in his study. As much as the Caribbean area is now being studied there should be many references to corroborating studies if something that dramatic was so severe. Sure one group of Lion fish setting up in one area that is being studied might be severely impacting that one area, but the article tends to imply the whole of the Caribbean reef fishery is on the brink of collapse.

[Boomer]

FM there is allot more going on than you think It is not just the Caribbean but he whole Eastern Atlantic all the way up to NY. There have been pics of Lionfish on the net in the Atlantic where it is not a Lion here or there, like in the Indo but almost like in bee-swarms/schools of them in one small area. No, I don't think the Caribbean will collapse but it is an issue. And I think their 80 % is a stretch. There is a report out there somewhere that someone had posted somewhere that all DNA tests done so far on many, many Atlantic Linosfish all fall back to only like 5 fish being introduced causing this issue.

We have had many such issue in Lake Superior doing damage to our salmon and lake trout industry by the marine lamprey gone FW. LS never had Humpback Salmon either but know there are in there by the 100,000 's and also damaging the Salmon and Steel Head fishing/industry. And some of this is tied into the crash of the LS Smelt fishing and its industry. When I was a kid one dip of the Smelt net and it was full and you could hardly lift it. Now, you are lucky to get one fish in the net in one dip. And this is just LS and only 2 of your ish issue, there are more of them. You can also look at all the fish introduced by aquarist into the southern US lakes and streams. There are many lakes and streams in the south where you can now go and hook-line an Oscar as just *one exmaple.


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 ref on Lion's in the Atlantic

[BEELZEBOB]

Originally Posted by fatman

Being as less than 0.5 percent of fish make it to adult hood as it is, I find it hard to believe that the Lion fish is imposing the impact that is being speculated by the doctorate candidate in his study. As much as the Caribbean area is now being studied there should be many references to corroborating studies if something that dramatic was so severe. Sure one group of Lion fish setting up in one area that is being studied might be severely impacting that one area, but the article tends to imply the whole of the Caribbean reef fishery is on the brink of collapse.

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?

[Amphibious]

I'm with Frankie - open season. Instead of studying them to control their population they ought to be eliminating them.

Dick

[Heliux]

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?

Agreed, i mean its like the recent studies on cell phones increasing the likely-hood of having tumors. Maybe its just a coincidence that the population is decreasing and for some reason the lionfish species is the only one present. If this study had been going on for say a good 10-20 years i would be more convinced that its not just a coincidence, and more of an actual problem.

Ok the tumor and the brain wasnt the best example, but how do you know that it truely is the lionfish's fault and not something else? Lionfish are not hunted as much as many other fish due to them being poisonous. So by whatever that is decreasing the population of fish is avoiding the Lionfish thus making them get all the bad rep.... Hope you see my point im trying to position myself behind here.

Lix

[BEELZEBOB]

i do indeed.

its just that this isnt anything new.

its been an issue sicne the 90's, and its getting worse.


were talking about the introduction of a pretty top preditor into an new ecosytem, because people are morons.

its just about the same reason i dont catch brooke and cutthroat trout as much as brown and rainbows.

a stroger alien predator takes an ecosystem by storm.

and i trust a marine biologists opinion. (or research)

[Heliux]

I guess there are a couple sides to this.

Yes it is a great predator that was introduced into a more "Fragile" ecosystem, but as stated above, can the lionfish population really have the big of an impact on an entire ecosystem to drop it down 80%? id understand like 40-50 but thats just pushing it dont you think?

[BEELZEBOB]

im not a scientist, so i cant really speculate.

but thats the issue. 80% is a huge portion of any population.

and if thats what this study found, like Frank said, open season.

[Octoman]

The problem with "open season" is if you kill 95% of them, then the 5% you leave behind are the best of the best. It just speeds up natural selection to make super-fish...

[Heliux]

Lol, superfishes that will be smart enough to build weapons of mass destruction and launch a counter attack on the human race!

[BEELZEBOB]

dont tell Cheney....