More Lionfish In The East Coast?
By Matt J. Weiss, January 13, 2009 @ 02:00 AM (EST)
Source: News-press.com
Here is the article I read by Kevin Lollar of news-press.com
A beautiful and venomous non-native fish has made its way to the Keys, and the question is whether the species will move north and invade local artificial reefs.
The red lionfish, a native of the western and South Pacific, has become the dominant species on many reefs in the Bahamas and Caribbean; in the United States, it has been documented off New York, New Jersey, North and South Carolina, Georgia and the east coast of Florida.
On Tuesday, a diver saw a juvenile lionfish on the Benwood wreck off Key Largo — it was the first documented case of lionfish in the Keys; the following day, a team from the Reef Environmental Education Foundation captured and euthanized the fish.
“It has spread to the east of Florida, Cuba, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caymans, so it was inevitable that it would reach the Keys,” said Brian Keller, science coordinator at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. “These are voracious predators that eat a lot of fish. They compete with snapper and grouper and eat the young of those species.”
“It has spread to the east of Florida, Cuba, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caymans, so it was inevitable that it would reach the Keys,” said Brian Keller, science coordinator at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. “These are voracious predators that eat a lot of fish. They compete with snapper and grouper and eat the young of those species.”
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