KurtG wrote in
:


I discovered that lion fish have established themselves in the
atlantic.
Apparently, enough escaped to form a colony to start breeding and a
few
have gotten large. I suppose some aquarist decided to release them.


You suppose incorrectly... Lionfish are more often than not assumed to
have gotten transferred via transport in large ship ballast water, like
most invasive marine species.

http://massbay.mit.edu/exoticspecies/ballast/index.html

Compared to a single trip by a modern double hulled oil tanker, the
activities of marine aquarists are a literal Drop in the Pond (not that
that excuses the release of non-native species!).

The speer fishermen have been destroying them on site, and the local
reef research team has been starting to track sightings to determine
their prevalence.

Just curious if there would be a market for them if caught. I
checked on the venom and there don't seem to be any known/reported
deaths and it's easily treated with a hot pack.


Correct, although I'd guess that there aren't enough aquarists ready to
accept enough lionfish to make a significant impact on their Atlantic
population. The east coast price of lionfish for the aquarium trade
might drop a bit, not that they're particulary expensive to begin with.

Regards,
DaveZ