The Voracious and Invasive Lionfish Is Taking Over the Atlantic. Here's Why.

By Grant Currin - Live Science Contributor 2 days ago Animals

This is one hungry fish.

One of the most notorious invasive species around, the lionfish, is known for its voracious appetite and can literally eat its competitors out of an ecosystem. And that's what the striking fish is doing, feasting its way through waters that stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Eastern Seaboard.

Now, scientists and startups are crafting methods for capturing and killing the hungry invaders. But while these new ideas show promise, tried-and-true spearfishing seems to be the most effective way to eradicate lionfish, scientists told Live Science.

"It's actually hard to describe how a lionfish eats because they do it in a split second," said Kristen Dahl, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida. Lionfish use a complex series of tactics that no other fish in the world is known to employ. In the blink of an eye, a lionfish goes from silently hovering above its prey to flaring its fins, firing a disorienting jet of water from its mouth, unhinging its jaw and swallowing its meal whole, scientists reported in a study published in 2012 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series. The attacks happen so quickly that nearby fish don't seem to notice.

"It's actually nice when I'm looking at gut contents," Dahl said, "because if something has been freshly eaten, it's in immaculate condition."

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New model predicts impact of invasive lionfish predators on coral reefs

Date:  June 6, 2019

Source:  University of Alberta

A new model is providing insight into the impact of invasive lionfish on coral reefs in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The venomous predatory fish has invaded more than 7.3 million square kilometres in the Atlantic and Caribbean, wreaking havoc among native fish populations.

The method, developed and tested with coral reef fish in the Bahamas through an international collaboration of scientists in Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom, is based on the behaviours used by prey to avoid being eaten by predators that use different hunting tactics.

"Many scientists have speculated that invasive lionfish are so successful in the Atlantic because prey don't recognize them as a predator," explained Stephanie Green, assistant professor in the University of Alberta's Department of Biological Sciences and lead author.

Stephanie Green, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, swims alongside a lionfish.

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Lionfish: Beautiful and Dangerous Invaders

By Nicoletta Lanese, Live Science Contributor | January 17, 2019 03:09pm ET

Turkeyfish. Butterfly cod. Feather fins. A lionfish (Pterois) by any other name looks just as lovely. Adorned in bold maroon, brown and white stripes, lionfish drift through the water by gently waving their fan-like fins. Floating tentacles frame their faces, making lionfish appear soft and delicate. But beware! These mysterious beauties come armed with venomous spines, and they are invading tropical waters around the world.

Fast fishy facts

Lionfish hail from the South Pacific and Indian oceans, their habitat stretching from Australia up to Japan and South Korea. Twelve different lionfish species swim through this region, feasting on shrimp and smaller fish. Lionfish corner their prey against reefs and rocks, then strike suddenly to swallow the prey whole. A voracious species, lionfishes' stomachs can expand to up to 30 times their normal size after a meal, according to Smithsonian magazine, leaving the fish plenty of room for seconds.

Lionfish not only have huge appetites, but also breed with similar gusto. They reproduce year-round, meaning a mature female can release about 2 million eggs per year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

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Hear the roar of the lionfish recorded for the first time

12 May 2017

By Sandrine Ceurstemont

Hear them roar. Lionfish have been recorded making sounds for the first time.

Decoding these sounds could give us an insight into secret lives of this voracious invasive species – and help us keep tabs on its spread.

Many fish produce sounds to communicate with each other as low-pitched noises travel far underwater. “It’s a dominant mode of communication,” says Alex Bogdanoff at North Carolina State University.

Bogdanoff and his team decided to investigate the lionfish’s ability to produce sound after hearing reports from several divers that they make noises. This invasive species has been spreading through the Caribbean and east coast of the US. They often devour several organisms at a time, which is drastically reducing some native fish populations and altering ecosystems.

Underwater soundscape

The team recorded the underwater soundscape in an outdoor tank for five days, at first with a single lionfish and then with a group of five individuals. Occasionally, they stirred up the water with a net to see whether stress caused the fish to make different sounds.

The team found that the fish often produced a rhythmic sound similar to a heartbeat and to calls made by other fish. But they also produced another noise made up of a much quicker series of beats (listen to the audio file, below). “It sounds like the rapid beating of a drum,” says Bogdanoff.

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Florida Lawmakers Want Money To Target Lionfish, Tegu Lizards – via Herp Digest

CBS Miami, 2/2/17

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) — A pair of state legislators has asked lawmakers to approve $600,000 over the next two years to fund a pilot program to hunt non-native tegu lizards, lionfish and a number of types of snakes.

The House proposal, filed this week by Rep. Halsey Beshears, adds lionfish to a separate Senate measure filed in early January by Sen. Frank Artiles from Miami.

In Beshears’ proposal, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission would be directed to work with the Department of Environmental Protection on the program, which would involve contracting with hunting and fishing teams to capture or destroy tegu lizards, which are native to Central and South America, lionfish, green anaconda, and several python species.

The hunts and fishing would occur in the Everglades and the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area, along with other commission-managed areas where the species have been reported. The commission would have to get permission from the National Park Service for hunting and fishing teams in the Everglades National Park.

A report on the progress of the program would be due by January 1st, 2020.

Invasive lionfish discovered in Brazil

DNA links specimen to fish population that has spread through Caribbean.

Allie Wilkinson

27 April 2015

Lionfish have overwhelmed ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean over the past three decades, eating or out-competing native species in what has been called the worst marine invasion ever. Now the fish seem to have extended their range to South America.

Researchers reported the first confirmed lionfish in Brazilian waters on 22 April in PLoS ONE1. The piscine pioneer was spotted by a group of recreational divers on 10 May 2014 in a reef off Cabo Frio, a municipality of Rio de Janeiro in southeastern Brazil. The divers returned to the site the next day with hand spears, and captured the fish so that scientists could study it.

When the researchers analysed the fish’s DNA, they found that it matched the genetic signature of the Caribbean lionfish population, and not that of specimens from their native Indo-Pacific region. This suggests that the fish may have reached Brazil through natural larval dispersal from the Caribbean, the study’s authors say.

But Mark Hixon, a marine ecologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says that ocean currents typically flow in the wrong direction for larval dispersal from the Caribbean to the southeastern Brazilian coast. He says that it is just as likely that the lionfish was brought to Brazil by humans. “Lionfish are easy to capture and make beautiful pets,” says Hixon. “It’s easy to imagine boaters carrying lionfish as short-term pets in bait tanks or other containers on their vessels.”

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Invasive lionfish may have had multiple points-of-origin in Caribbean

April 24, 2015

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

An invasive predatory fish that has been rapidly expanding its presence in the Caribbean Basin and the Western Atlantic originated from multiple locations, not just one as previously believed, according to research published in a recent edition of the journal Marine Biology.

The venomous, coral reef-dwelling red lionfish had long been thought to have been introduced in Florida. In the new study, however, a team of US Geological Survey scientists propose that there were multiple points of origin, including some further south in the Caribbean Basin range.

Two genetically distinct populations discovered

Using new genetic data to help unravel the mystery, the study authors collected lionfish samples from 14 countries and territories in the Greater Caribbean and Western Atlantic. They discovered unique regional patterns that separated the area into distinct northern and southern regions.

The split occurred in the vicinity of the Bahamas, and given the regional genetic differences they found in the course of their investigation, the study authors now believe that there were multiple introductions of the species. One rare genetic strain was detected in only a few southern samples, but was found to be pervasive in the northern ones, the researchers explained.

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Lionfish Predation Habits And Ideal Prey Analyzed In New Study

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Majestic lionfish have been spotted in the Caribbean and Atlantic since the 1980s and these invasive fish have a reputation for ferocious predation and rapid expansion.

Now, a new study by researchers from Oregon State University and Simon Fraser University in Canada has revealed details surrounding the lionfish’s predation habits and ideal prey.

“With species now moving all over the world in both marine and terrestrial systems, we need to know who will eat whom when species encounter each other for the first time,” said study author Stephanie Green, a research fellow in the OSU College of Science.

“Normally, predator-prey experiments take a lot of effort and time,” Green said. “But there are mathematical techniques that can help us better understand what is happening when we observe animals hunting in the wild, and why some species get eaten and others don’t.”

Published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, the new study reveals that the lionfish’s ideal prey is a small, solitary fish with a long, skinny body situated near the seafloor.

By analyzing studies on the observations of lionfish predation and the stomach contents of these fish, the study team was successfully able to identify what traits all lionfish prey tend to have in common.

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Lionfish characteristics make them more 'terminator' than predator

Date:

August 14, 2014

Source:

Oregon State University

Summary:

New research on the predatory nature of red lionfish, the invasive species that is decimating native fish populations in parts of the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, seems to indicate that lionfish are not just a predator, but more like the 'terminator' of movie fame. In behavior that is called 'alarming,' it appears that in some cases lionfish will continue to hunt until the last fish of a local population is dead.

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Florida Lionfish ban, nation's first, goes into effect

August 1, 2014 4:43 PM

By Zachary Fagenson

MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida's ban on importing invasive lionfish, the first of its kind in the nation, goes into effect on Friday as wildlife managers look for a way to control the spread of the barbed, red-and-white striped fish.

Bringing the fish into the state is now punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and a year in prison.

Lionfish, native to the waters off Southeast Asia, are believed to have arrived in the region as pets for aquariums. Over time, some were released into the wild.

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