Lionfish anyone?

[2fastlx]

A few friends and I participated in a lionfish derby yesterday down here in the Keys. As some of you know, lionfish is a non-native species to our water and they are doing a pretty good job of wreaking havoc on our reefs. There were prizes for most lionfish, biggest, and smallest and although we didnt take any prizes home we still did pretty good with 41. The winning team caught 111! Most of ours were caught with basic aquarium nets, although we did spear some that were holed up to deep in the rocks. At the banquet we got to sample some lionfish ceviche and fries lionfish - both of which tasted awesome!

 

[ccCapt]

That's alot of fish there. How big of an area did you cover to get all those?

 

[yote]

Thats a butt load of lionfish.
Watching Speargun Hunter on the Outdoor Channel,they shot a couple of big lions down in the Keys.They were also talking about how good they were for table fare.

 

[wontonflip]

Wow :shock: Sushi anyone? LOL

How long have they been rampant there?

 

[2fastlx]

We hit roughly 50 individual spots over a range of around 10 miles. We got them mostly off individual coral heads and rock piles. This year is the first year Ive seen them off of here, but we've been seeing them in the bahamas for the past 4 years or so. Unfortunately I think they are here to stay, and next year I think most of the same spots are going to be chock full again:frustrat: I just hope a species of grouper adapts to eat the crap out of them!

 

[supernatureal]

To bad you could not catch then and keep them alive to sell. Maybe make some money while eradicating them from the reef.

 

[Smitty]

Wow...that's so cool!

 

[2fastlx]

You know I thought about the whole selling thing, but for this event they all needed to be dead on arrival. The organization that ran the derby does a lot of research and what not so all the fish we measured, weighed and probably dna tested and stuff....oh and filleted and fried:mrgreen: It doesnt seem like these things cost as much as they used to though, what do you guys pay for them? They are the volitan type.

 

[BL1]

they're $35-110 depending on their size and where they came from

 

[2fastlx]

Gotcha. After going through the whole shipping thing Im sure it would be cheaper to buy them at a pet store then for me to send one out. Anyone that wanted one locally could just go out and catch one or pay a local kid a few bucks to do it.

 

[steelcity]

Good job. Lionfish are a big problem. Now the problem looks like it may get worse because now they are showing up in 200+ ft which is out of range for most rec divers. I haven't seen any on my side yet.

 

[2fastlx]

They are going much deeper than 200, one was recently spotted from a small submarine in 1000ft. off Nassau, Bahamas. Hopefully they do not make it up your way, Im nervous about what the reefs here are going to look like next year.

 

[d2mini]

I know they were a problem, but I still feel bad for the lionfish. Beautiful creatures.

 

[yote]

Beautiful creatures in their own environment.But not so much when they are the only fish on the reef.

 

[2fastlx]

I know they were a problem, but I still feel bad for the lionfish. Beautiful creatures.

You are right about them being beautiful. They are very cool to see in the water but unfortunately they eat anything and everything that they can fit in their mouths.They are going to be a problem for many years to come and even though more people are being proactive about the problem by removing them, its a losing battle.

 

[sen5241b]

There was something in the news about them recently. They've got much worse becuase they have no predators in the Atlantic.