Bahamas Lionfish

[ReMetau]

I have a friend in the Keys who regularly spear fishes, and it is not uncommon for him to get between 15-30 a trip.

[transmitterdan]

I agree with Mark that killing them isn't going to help much. It is fun and they taste good grilled in butter. But less than 1% of their habitat is visited by humans so killing them isn't a viable extermination plan.

I fear there is no way to get rid of them but if you spear some try feeding a few juveniles to the groupers. In the Pacific, grouper eat lion fish. There is no reason they could not learn the same in the Caribe.

[Stumble]

I have a standing bounty for them with the fisherman near me. I pay $1 per, of any size. Plus while diving or. Snorkeling I always take a gun to kill as many of them as I can. Over the last few years the numbers seem to be falling, but there are still plenty of them.

I may not be able to stop the problem, but I can't try to keep it from getting worse.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by motion30

I just read an article that stated they believe snapper are eating lion fish. If this is true, good news

Supposedly nothing eats them, but I have a video I took a few years ago of a Moray stalking and taking a chunk out of one

[svHannabel]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Supposedly nothing eats them, but I have a video I took a few years ago of a Moray stalking and taking a chunk out of one

Apparently some studies have shown that large lionfish actually prey on smaller lionfish, but their dorsal spines would seem to keep them from being a preferred prey item for any predator.

Unfortunately once invasive species become established to the point that lionfish are now along the US Atlantic coast, Gulf and Caribbean there's little that can be done beyond continual control (spearing, fishing, etc.).

[Seafrontiersman]

Can't you eat those awful things? I think I saw Andrew Zimmern eating one...

[Azul]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

I agree with Mark that killing them isn't going to help much. It is fun and they taste good grilled in butter. But less than 1% of their habitat is visited by humans so killing them isn't a viable extermination plan.

I fear there is no way to get rid of them but if you spear some try feeding a few juveniles to the groupers. In the Pacific, grouper eat lion fish. There is no reason they could not learn the same in the Caribe.

I've read everything that Dr. James Morris has written (the foremost marine biologist studying them in the Carolinas) and so far no one has come up with a viable way to commercially fish for them. In one of his articles he pointed out that Atlantic grouper will starve before they will try to eat a lionfish. Anyone that figures this out will make a fortune. The biologists studying them don't even know how to scuba dive, but hire divers to help them with their research.

Lionfish reproduce prodigiously, have no natural predators and can eat half their weight in juvenile reef fish per day. In NC, the larger ones that are good eating size are found at depths where scuba diving to spear them isn't profitable even if 25 pounds per dive are speared. It's pretty easy to get stung trying to spear a bunch of them on one dive, guys I've talked to that have experienced a sting say it is painful beyond imagination. An exotic delicacy, some local restaurants will pay $18 a pound in the Outer Banks for them. The government is trying various ways to coax lionfish into being taken by traps or hook and line, without success thus far.

[Sand crab]

Originally Posted by Seafrontiersman

Can't you eat those awful things? I think I saw Andrew Zimmern eating one...

You should read page 1 of this thread.