this is why you shouldnt release your fish...

[hobogato]

anyone else see this article?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080813/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lionfish_invasion;_ylt=AhhrGrIUu9ADHe9wB8yGcYCs0NU E

[reefer man]

thats pretty crazy

[Iplantz]

Did you catch the episode on this on the nightly news a few weeks back? I think it was on NBC nightly news or one of the other ones. Its really bad, and I think it helps urge the need for captive breeding, because a pest like this could wipe out native species completely.

[crossxfire2]

That is intense! I think they should be captured to be put into aquariums!

[captexas]

I saw the story that was on the national news recently about lionfish appearing on the east coast of the US. They seem to have adapted a bit to the colder waters and are multiplying as well. Same danger when you release any non-native animal or plant into the local environment. Several examples out there of native species being decimated by the more aggressive foreign species.

[copperband]

This is really bad and I agree with Iplantz!!

[apedroza]

Its really bad, and I think it helps urge the need for captive breeding, because a pest like this could wipe out native species completely.

Unfortunately they believe the fish came from a private aquarium that had maybe 8 of these animals. Some pehaps pregnant already. Just shos that we need to do our part in preventing these type of things from happening. Caulerpa plagues are out of control because of careless aquarists.

[copperband]

i second apedroza

[edshas2]

Wow thats crazy all that from 6 lionfish that escaped during a storm.

[p00num3lli]

That is intense! I think they should be captured to be put into aquariums!

i 2nd that!

[Richard]

An importer has recieved numerous volitan lions from his Haitian collectors. So people are catching them but I don't think that's going to be enough. They are too established now.

[brewercm]

An importer has recieved numerous volitan lions from his Haitian collectors. So people are catching them but I don't think that's going to be enough. They are too established now.

Very true. Now it's just up to nature to see what happens. It will definitely change the ecology of the area over time.

[RayAllen]

This type of event is happening more frequently and only fuels people like PETA and other groups. Makes us all look bad. Reminds me of the Burmese python problem they are having in the florida everglads. Another example of a predatory species being released.

It would not be any better, but lets say someone realesed a couple of chromis and the lived and adapted. That would not be near as bad as letting go a animal that can devour almost everything.

In the florida keys someone realeased a small species of Chamelon several years back which have flourished in the climate and are actually considered benefical so like brewercm said only time will tell.....

[jupiterbunny]

Wow that really sucks.

[Bill S]

Hey, I'm wondering whether or not we'll soon be seeing this in our local HEB seafood case!

[Joshua]

Time to start selling lionfish to all the n00bs along with a bag of salt and a 29 gallon aquarium, looks like we got a new place to start collecting them.

[captexas]

Well as the report states researchers observed a lionfish eat 20 small reef fish in 30 minutes, I would say it won't take time to tell us this is very detrimental to the natural ecosystem of the area. Once the small feeder fish are gone, that will affect the other species of larger fish that prey on them as well and so on and so on.

It's amazing how one action on one species can affect the overal environment. I was watching a show the other night on some shark attacks in Hawaii that happened several years ago. There was not much known on sharks at the time. They narrowed it down to believing these attacks/deaths were due to a large tiger shark feeding in the "Jaws" theory. So they started catching and killing evey tiger shark over 8 feet long. After a couple years of this they noticed the regular reef fish population was dissappearing. After looking into it, they realized that one of the main food sources for tiger sharks are smaller sharks, especially the white tip reef shark. As they were killing off all the large tigers, it resulted in having more white tips that of course were eating more and more of the local reef fish. They found out the hard way and later stopped killing the tiger sharks.

[alton]

THis comment will probably sound bad but man created the problem, man should fix the problem by removing all Lion Fish in the Caribbean. The time they are spending studying, they should be removing.

[patman]

THis comment will probably sound bad but man created the problem, man should fix the problem by removing all Lion Fish in the Caribbean. The time they are spending studying, they should be removing.

I agree. if it somehow effected the government I bet we'd see action ASAP. The people that have the power and money to clean this up have no interest in doing so....:bareteeth:

[captexas]

Yeah, I was kind of wondering why if researchers have spent so much time studying this and they know it is a problem, why didn't they catch the lionfish and relocate them? Or use them for food as I think was talked about later in that article. I know there is an issue with interfering with the natural predator/prey order and such, but as stated, this problem was created by man so man should try to fix it if possible.

[bozack]

The one video I saw on CNN actually showed a bunch of researchers going down pretty regularly and bagging them up by the bag full. Kind of sad to just nag em up and kill em but has to be done.

There is a similiar problem going on in the everglades from pet boas and pythons being let go in the glades and now growing and producing like crazy too

[BJanecka]

bummer

[MikeP]

Pretty sure the Lionfish are now here to stay. If they moved from Miami to Cape Hatteras in under a decade they must have well established breeding colonies. Not much other than a large grouper or sometimes a hungry moray will eat lions in the wild (Pacific). Once they get into the warm temeperate areas of the Atlantic coast there are fewer predators than in their natural environment.