I recorded a show on The Science Channel of a series called Species of Mass Destruction. This episode is on the Lionfish problem in the Caribbean, U.S. Atlantic, and South American Atlantic Coasts. On again on the Science Channel 1 am tonight, and again this Thursday at 5 am. Pretty interesting show.
Lionfish Invasion Documentary
- Thread starter acroholic
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dang i was hoping for a link to watch it online. but it does sound interesting.
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Hey so what ended up being the problem with lion fish?
. I watched Shark Tank about Lionfish a few months ago...- Messages
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It's a problem they will probably never be able to solve. They've made it as far as Bermuda as well. No natural predators.
The issue with the lion fish in the Carribbean is they have no natural predators, and they completely devastate juvenile fish populations in the areas they inhabit. They eat juvenile predatory fish as well, so they reduce those in addition to the regular populations.
The documentary does an in depth analysis of the way they take their prey, and they have one of the fastest jaw movements in nature
They can be controlled somewhat by regular harvesting and killing, but they never will be eliminated because they have been found in the caribbean at depths greater than 300 feet, which puts them out of reach of any sustained elimination efforts.
Another issue is that none of the native Carribbean fish that would/could eat them recognizes them as prey, like sharks and groupers. Groupers have eaten sick or injured lionfish, but not healthy ones. One diver was trying to teach a native shark to recognize the lionfish as a prey item, however.
Those are some of the highlights from the Documentary I remember.
The documentary does an in depth analysis of the way they take their prey, and they have one of the fastest jaw movements in nature
They can be controlled somewhat by regular harvesting and killing, but they never will be eliminated because they have been found in the caribbean at depths greater than 300 feet, which puts them out of reach of any sustained elimination efforts.
Another issue is that none of the native Carribbean fish that would/could eat them recognizes them as prey, like sharks and groupers. Groupers have eaten sick or injured lionfish, but not healthy ones. One diver was trying to teach a native shark to recognize the lionfish as a prey item, however.
Those are some of the highlights from the Documentary I remember.
I spoke with a diver who used to pick specimens in the Gulf. He said this 8 months ago when I was asking what he had. tthe natural predators were diplaced after the oil spill.
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We dive in the Keys a lot, they are everywhere. We kill'em n grill'em as much as we can, but they reproduce very fast. There are monthly lion fish derbies that make a small dent in the issue but it's not a permanent solution.
We killed a bunch of them on Eleuthera, until we began to realize the scale of the problem.
We saw everything from babies, and inch or two long, to full grown adults with fat bellies full of silversides (I cut one open).
It's an unusual feeling looking up and a couple of feet from your head is a 12 inch+ lionfish, in all of it's glory. I had never had to worry about much in open water before.
I loved these fish, until they got loose in the Atlantic basin.
We saw everything from babies, and inch or two long, to full grown adults with fat bellies full of silversides (I cut one open).
It's an unusual feeling looking up and a couple of feet from your head is a 12 inch+ lionfish, in all of it's glory. I had never had to worry about much in open water before.
I loved these fish, until they got loose in the Atlantic basin.
