Finally the Roatan Marine Park gets a clue

[daran]

I find it interesting that we hear people report that they don't see many Lion Fish while diving at places like Cozumel. Due to all the traffic( 10 boats at the same location) at all the same dive spots and at mostly the same depths ( 80 ft max for many )it is obvious why there appear to be less Lion Fish. They are there, just not many on the well worn paths.

They are in Cozumel in large numbers. I just came back from 14 dives and saw about 30 lion fish. We saw more at the deeper levels like 90 and 100 feet.

 

[Mike]

Faulty logic really. Scientists have only been mapping marine fish for the last 100 years, and only recently finished their very first census of marine life. An average of 3 new fish species are discovered EVERY WEEK (many marine biologists expect us to document over 5000 new species of fish in the coming years). Our level of ignorance on marine fish is so profound it cannot be described in words. To say it "would have arrived long, long ago," well, maybe they did. What we do know is there are documented reports of that happening, so to say "not possible" is blinding yourself from factual information. Clearly, at the very least, it is information the scientists involved with NOAA took into consideration when they published their report with the generally finding of "we don't know."

Faulty Logic?

We are talking about lion fish here nothing else.

Lionfishes are now established off of the Atlantic Coast of the United States from Florida to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Juvenile lionfish have been found in near-shore waters off New York, New Jersey,and Rhode Island since 2001; however survival of these fish is not expected due to cold winter temperatures.

The northward transport of lionfish eggs and larvae by the Gulf Stream has most likely enhanced dispersal of lionfishes along the Atlantic coast. In addition, lionfishes have become established in Bermuda, the Bahamas, Columbia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, and the Cayman Islands. There are also reported sightings in Belize, Haiti, U.S. Virgin Islands, Mexico, and Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire.

I believe there were 1st reports of lion fish in the caribbean around 1994. So as I said - if they came from ships, where the hell were they hiding for 100 years or more that ships have been crossing the oceans using modern bilges and ballasts?

Far from faulty logic, sounds like perfect logic to me. It's pretty doubltful that lion fish were hiding in plain site for 100 years in the caribbean.

The most probable explanation for the invasion of the lionfish in the Atlantic Ocean is the aquarium trade. Other proposed explanations include the transport of lionfishes, during one or more of their life stages, in the ballast water of ships traveling from the Pacific Ocean, although this scenario does not hold much credence among experts.

In 1992, at least six lionfish from a beachside aquarium were accidentally released into Biscayne Bay during Hurricane Andrew, although lionfish sightings have been reported prior to 1992. The present populations of red lionfish are probably the descendents of these fish and others released accidentally or purposely into the warm South Atlantic waters.

Quotes are from NOAA

 

[Fred R.]

I knew I read it somewhere;

SpringerLink - Environmental Biology of Fishes, Volume 86, Number 3

The reference to aquarium release is at the beginning of the article

 

[tarponchik]

Correct me if I am wrong but there were reports of at least 2 species of lionfish found in the Caribbean. This indicates on multiple release events.

 

[Fred R.]

True.

The earliest articles, I remember reading on the NOAA website (since taken down and changed) said that all Lionfish in the Gulf-stream area could be genetically traced back to six or seven fish all believed to have been released during Hurricane Andrew, August of '92.

They also said that the Bahama specimens fit the same genetic profile.

Then I attended a lecture given by the Bahamas National Trust and the Bahamas Ministry of Fisheries. The Fisheries person reported two species of lionfish in our waters.

Some people are pretty sure that there was a release event from the aquariums of Atlantis, during a hurricane (I don't remember which one) where their outflow filters were overloaded and lionfish eggs were pumped into Nassau Harbor. Lionfish were reported and photographed in Nassau waters quite some time before they were sighted around Freeport, which doesn't make a lot of sense if Florida was the sole origin.

There have been reports and suspicions of other release events.

While there is supposed to be two species currently living in the Atlantic, I am pretty sure that I have only observed P. volitans.