Lionfish on Night News

[spuds]

Anyone else see the Lionsfish section on the nightly news tonight? Apparently this fish is invading the atlantic in florida and the bahammas. Its previously only been found in the asian pacific, never the atlantic. They think it came from local aquarium owners on the east coast. Now the population has exploded and the fish are eating all the normal coral habitats. Kinda sad to see this may have happened from people tossing them away.

[ErikH]

? link?

[aeroaustin]

I think that link is http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/stories/lionfish/links.html
click on the "3. Lionfish Invade U.S. Coastal Waters!" on the right side of page.

other link is http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/jun/19/deadly-lionfish-invade-florida-waters/

[Iplantz]

Wow thats a bummer. Didn't the same thing happen on the west coast with calpura?

[cpreefguy]

I saw it too! Weird to think that just a few have populated vast areas and are decimating native fish populations

[subsailor]

I Moved here from Kings Bay Ga and It is a problem over there and it is increasing, The biggest problem being that there are no natural predators to them there.

[Iplantz]

How do you think there going to thin them out? If the can? Could they sell these to aquarists? Or is it a species that doesn't fair well in captivity?

[spuds]

Kinda reminds me of the snakehead in the northern freshwater lakes, I hope someone figures out something fast to thin out the population.

[sly fox]

wow...thats pretty bad...!!

[sly fox]

How do you think there going to thin them out? If the can? Could they sell these to aquarists? Or is it a species that doesn't fair well in captivity?

catching for aquarists really wouldnt make a big impact on the population, not sure of the financial viability for collectors tho