Rob Schuh wrote:
I don't know how many have seen these stories, but Volitan Lions are
becoming a HUGE problem from the Bahamas all the way up to MA. During the
winter, they die up north, but they are making a huge dent in the small fish
populations. I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and heard stories of Lionfish
sightings going back to the late 70s, but if they were true, it was one fish
that someone let out of a tank. They think that after Hurricane Andrew in
1992 a large # escaped and the DNA of 90% of these specimens goes back to
only 6 individuals. Another problem with this invasion is that since the
Lionfish has no natural predator there, they are growing larger than normal.
The largest they normally get in the pacific is 14". They recently found a #
of 17" specimens. Right now, Bermuda is on the cutting edge of eradicating
this invader. IF they could keep the population in check, it would be a new
and close source for Lionfish for the Aquarium trade, but many marine
biologists believe they have to get rid of all of them because of their
voracious appetite. One 12" Lionfish was found with 26 small grunts in it's
belly. They have evolved to gorge themselves when food is available because
pacific fish see them as predators where the Atlantic fish don't. Many
divers say the small fish swim right up to the Lionfish and get swallowed up
just like a gold fish does. I would hate to be working as any type of animal
control agent in S. FL right now. Not only have they had problems for years
with Peacock bass taking over lakes, but now they have the lionfish problem
and the Burmese python explosion. At least they have a large natural
predator for the python in the alligator, but it looks like man is going to
have to go out and start to harvest the Lionfish as much as possible. We
are talking about a few either. I have seen numerous videos where there are
6-10 Lionfish swimming around one large coral head. You can tell that it is
not a video from the pacific as they are swimming through rows of Elkshorn
coral. Besides these, there are many places where you can go throughout the
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area and see entire flocks of wild Macaws, Quaker
Parakeets and many other foreign birds that have been let go. Luckily, the
birds don't hurt the environment. These Lionfish are everywhere. A buddy of
mine took his Zodiac off the beach just south of Ft. Lauderdale's main strip
and saw 3 Lionfish. So far, it only seems to be the Volitan Lionfish.

this sucks, too bad for the environment, hopefully a larger predator
will reproduce enough to eradicate them before the lionfish run out of a
natural food supply