I can add something to this discussion of exotic tropical fish sightings in So Fla, (albeit in another place). About 3 years ago I was on a shore dive at the Dania Erojacks. At the very east end of the line of jacks I sighted what was undoubtedly a Pacific Damsel Fish of some type. It rose up with a cloud of Yellow Wrasse to regard me and after about 2 seconds flashed into the jacks. I do not know the specific species as I am just about ignorant for the most part on these Pacific natives other than Lion Fish and Clown Fish. I had started the dive from within John Lloyd State Park so I was without a spear gun. Additionally as we were in our infancy as far as the Lion Fish infestation here abouts and they were not yet on my radar screen, I certainly did not have a little Lion Fish eradication spear of any kind with me. I posted on SB that evening that I had seen this little bugger and asked everyone that might frequent the area to keep a sharp eye out and hopefully someone would catch/net/spear the thing.
I have not seen or heard any mention of this single fish since then and I assume that it had been recently been released and it starved/got eaten/ or succumbed to some native parasite or other complication. At this point, if I see an exotic animal of any kind, it gets whacked if at all possible. I would certainly prefer not to engage in indiscriminate killing but unfortunately, I think the stakes are too high to allow unchecked existence. Too many unknowns.
Chug
Wants to see Pacific fish in the Pacific someday.
Wow, a Pacific damselfish? They act differently from the Atlantic damselfishes. It seems like they always are very nervous and quickly dart into the coral when any danger appears. Maybe that is why they are able to avoid being eaten by the lionfish? They also seem to live in groups and maybe the groups help to look for danger? This is really interesting to me because the Pacific damselfish seem to behave in a different way than the Atlantic ones. Also, if the Pacific damselfish were to have breeding pairs or groups, would they likely become as numerous as the lionfish? Or would they take a long time to colonize the Caribbean? Just curious if anyone is a fish expert and might know what would happen should they become introduced....