Lionfish spotted in Aruba!

[emoreira]

Seems crazy that such a nice fish is so harmfull for the enviroment.

 

[Pullmyfinger]

If the Chinese thought that eating lionfish would increase their virility and enlarge their manhood, we wouldn't have any problems with invasive lionfish.

 

[Pesce Leone]

Lets hope they killed them all

Last january I was in Old Providence and we must have seen (and killed) 20 or 30 in only 6 dives...

One of the guys speargunnin' em got stung in the hand...he took it like a man!

 

[ronski101]

I thought the carribean was past the "Gee, I saw a purrdy lion fish today i will take my camera next time i go there". It's this lack of urgency that has allowed them to spread like wildfire.

 

[gert7to3]

DIY lionfish response.

http://www.breef.org/Portals/0/capture, handling and cleaning lionfish brochure DMR.pdf

 

[tselios]

Hi
I saw a Lion fish on the Antilla wreck on 11-29-10.
The DM pointed it out.

 

[FL-Jack]

I thought the carribean was past the "Gee, I saw a purrdy lion fish today i will take my camera next time i go there". It's this lack of urgency that has allowed them to spread like wildfire.

Yeah, they are thick here in South Florida. We can easily take a hundred in 15 minutes these days, mostly juveniles...and do. They are shown no mercy by any diver or marine collector I know of, though I expect some PETA takes will take up their 'cause' sooner or later.

What I find interesting is that they have literally been around for years. The population only exploded after the last years extended cold snap. My personal opinion is that wiped out whatever was keeping them in check, be it bacteria, a predator or some other factor that is currently unknown by the educated types.

I suspect it is going to get worse before getting better based on the freezing cold, very unseasonable temps we are seeing here in FL, but if 'global warming' and 'greenhouse gasses' finally give me the nirvana I was promised I suspect they will fade into the background once again.

While they are here I will continue to enjoy collecting them, just as the [now] nearly extinct, exotic iguanas that have been a local South Florida problem for a good number of years.

I'm not sure what anyone thinks can be done besides learning about the hows and whys at this point, but rest assured so long as people will pay for them they will continue to be harvested.