Florida and lionfish

[Squidy07]

what's going on in Florida reefs ? I hear lionfish are destroying the reefs but I dont understand why or how. can someone please explain.

 

[Mr. D]

Lions are invasive and thought to be introduced from a hurricane a while ago from hobbyists and the aquarium I believe.

It's thought it was a few and now it's a A LOT(don't know real estimation). They originated from the indo-pacific and have no predators and nothing has evolved defense mechanisms because they didn't evolve there with the natural life.

 

[Mr. D]

Lions are invasive and thought to be introduced from a hurricane a while ago from hobbyists and the aquarium I believe.

It's thought it was a few and now it's a A LOT(don't know real estimation). They originated from the indo-pacific and have no predators and nothing has evolved defense mechanisms because they didn't evolve there with the natural life.

I've watched a documentary on this and the divers said the reefs used to be "flooded" with fish and it's visibly less to the naked eye now compared to what it once was

 

[Elmo1287]

People in Florida had aquariums out on theirs deck and when a hurricane came threw they didn't bring them inside and I read that three escaped and stayed around the area for awhile then when they out grow their living environment thy let them loose in the ocean

 

[Cjsanders757]

In west palm they are actually training groupers and Goliath groupers to eat them it's slowly working. Officials tell people If you see a lion fish kill on site and they pay for whatever gets brought in. Lol

 

[Jaketit]

They are actually holding lion fish tournements locally in the area I live. Last time I went flounder gigging, we stabbed 2 lions. We are seeing them in the Indian River Lagoon, which isn't a reef and they are gobbling up all the juvenile fish in our estuaries. If not controlled they are going to wipe us out of our native fish like snook, spotted sea trout and many more fish. I heard they are good to eat also, just a PIA to fillet.

 

[erichm20]

+1 they are invading all the inter-coastal waters pretty much eating everything they come across and multiplying like rabbits.

 

[MacDracor]

The lionfish in Florida is a great example of why animals should never be released into any habitat but their natural one. Sometimes this is accidental, but just as often it's intentional. Like the cane toad in Australia.
Anywho, as stated already, they're breeding like rabbits in the absence of natural predators, and consuming everything they can fit in their capacious maws. Reefs are just as dependent on fish as fish are on the reef. Remove all the native fish, and the reef will die.
Even large fish are at risk from the lions because the young are bite sized.

 

[bigbanker]

Same with Georgia as well

 

[Psychocircus91]

The lionfish in Florida is a great example of why animals should never be released into any habitat but their natural one. Sometimes this is accidental, but just as often it's intentional. Like the cane toad in Australia.
Anywho, as stated already, they're breeding like rabbits in the absence of natural predators, and consuming everything they can fit in their capacious maws. Reefs are just as dependent on fish as fish are on the reef. Remove all the native fish, and the reef will die.
Even large fish are at risk from the lions because the young are bite sized.

And because larger fish are getting out competed for food. Lionfish eat non stop

 

[erichm20]

http://www.lionfishhunters.org/

1 large lion fish can eat 20 small reef fish in a 30 minute period... That's a big appetite!

 

[LadyQuorra]

Crazy!

 

[Gregcoyote]

Last time I was underwater in Florida, all I saw was lion fish. You would come to a rock outcrop that use to have hundreds of small fish, now you'll see a dozen lion fish loitering around and that's all. Our hobby is coming under a lot of negative scrutiny with algae and fishes showing up where they never should. Add that to wild capture of fish like tangs and harvesting corals in areas with poor environmental laws will get us shut down. Fraging has been one of the few positive things to evolve from our hobby IMO. The faster we can get independent from the ocean the better. We need to start giving back, rather than taking.

 

[TigerBarbs]

In many places in south florida and the caribbean, people are encouraged to kill as many as possible.

 

[MikeYQM]

I remember watching a show recently about the Bermuda Triangle, they were diving off Bimini. Every single shot they had from various wrecks had lionfish in them. What are the odds you could take a few dozen shots from random points and get the same type of fish in all?

I'm glad to see a bounty has been put in them to help with the cull, but in reality will it make a dent?

 

[TigerBarbs]

I sure hope it will, from a fishermans point of view and from a reef point of view