Lionfish Wreak Havoc on Southern Atlantic Marine Life

Once a favorite of tropical fish collectors, until they noticed all the other fish in the tank were disappearing, the beautiful lionfish is causing a heap of trouble in the warm waters of the southern Atlantic.

You hear it all the time. A clueless pet fancier becomes obsessed with the exotic pet of the month. He buys it and takes it home with all good intentions. But things at home don't go well. The animal either gets too big, or doesn't behave well. It may be too expensive to keep. The owner gets bored. The owner, faced with the decision of what to do, chooses the easy way. He throws the animal out. Maybe he takes it for a ride and lets it loose in the woods or in the case of the above mentioned lionfish, he decides to dump it into the nearest body of water.

Most of the time nothing serious happens, but unfortunately, the simple action of tossing a few unwanted lionfish into the canal down the street is changing the entire ecosystem of the southern Atlantic.

Lionfish first got into Florida's ocean waters after Hurricane Andrew in1992 when the storm smashed their waterfront tank in Miami. Six of them ended up in Biscayne Bay. Now, 18 years later, combined with all the reproducing throwaway lionfish, millions of them are wreaking havoc in the warm waters off the Atlantic coast.

They are eating up all the marine life in the Florida Keys, Bahamas and Bermuda. The lionfish is a voracious eater. It swallows its prey whole. 50 species of reef fish have been found in the stomachs of lionfish, along with a whole octopus .They eat shrimp. They have the power to eliminate entire species of marine and coral reef life. .

Lionfish are native to the waters of the South Pacific. There they have natural predators to keep their population in check. In the Atlantic they have none. They reproduce rapidly, every 4 days. They are venomous fish, and brightly colored. They can be 18 inches long. They are known for their extremely long separated spines.

When threatened, the lionfish uses its spines to sting its attackers. The sting is not fatal to humans. However the victim will experience severe pain, headache, vomiting and difficulty breathing. Divers in lionfish inhabited water are advised to wear rubber and steel gloves to protect themselves.

Man seems to be the only natural predator of the lionfish. One control measure is to remove the fish and eat them. They are reported to be very tasty when cooked and eaten.

Bermuda has lionfish fishing derbies whose slogan is "Eat them to Beat them."

The good news is that these fish are very tasty, in fact they are a delicacy and there are plenty of them. Restaurants and food companies are working quickly to develop recipes and get them on their menus. Over fishing lionfish is no problem. As a "green" food source they could be very valuable.

The Cayman Islands, Bonaire and the Dutch Antilles have trained hundreds of divers who are in the water every day to remove lionfish as soon as they see them. Beach goers are warned to be on the alert for lionfish and report any sightings. We have to stop the lionfish. We must address the problem now. We have to become their predator.

Let's have lionfish for lunch. Sweet and Sour lionfish, Fried lionfish and chips, Lionfish lo mein, and Lionfish chowder. The possibilities are endless.

Sources.

Coast to coast AM

Earthfiles.com

Wikipedia