Lionfish are in Roatan.

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Actually, it is still a very relevant question and of upmost importance if we want to avoid this happening again for another invasive species! Finding out where and how it got here is essential if you want to stop more species getting here and creating even more unrest on the caribean reefs. Find the source, shut it down/ make sure steps are taken so it doesn't happen again... Imagine if other nasty exotics came in the same way? Like the Crown of Thorns seastar? or others?

The lionfish is here to stay. But lets learn from this mistake to keep it from happening again! That's pretty much the best we can do!:coffee:

Exactly how they got here is no longer a very relevant issue, I am afraid. If we still can?:shakehead:
 
2nd Lionfish we've caught

This one was caught at Mandy's Eel Garden right by the mooring in 16 ft of water.

Pete, one of our instructors has now caught his second. At 4:30 we are heading out to locate another.

petey.jpg
 
I'm headed to BIBR in early Sept and i'm really sorry to hear these buggers have made it down as far as you guys.

Diving on the "Abilin" wreck just north of Old Fort Bay, New Providence Bahamas Sunday just gone, i encountered WELL in excess of 30 on and about the wreck. Varying in size up to a good half a meter.
I got a photo of ten in a row down the starboard side of the vessel, lined up like taxis outside a hotel!!! (i'll post it if i can dig it up.....). There was still an awful lot of other life about, so it's not like they'd left "scorched earth" in their wake, exactly.

I'm not, in all honesty, really qualified to have an opinion, but if it were my choice i'd start killing them early. Before there's no point........(if that time isn’t already past)

Perhaps in this case, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the second best is the wrong thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing...........i guess, at least you'd have tried.
 
It looks like a juvenile lionfish that I saw at Black Rock last week .They are here to stay for sure!!!
 
I know this may be opening Pandora's box here...but what about introducing its natural predator to the area? Seriously...everything I have heard about this damn fish is that it is incredibly invasive, very deadly to local fish populations, breeds like a cockroach, and has NO natural predators here.

We have to deal with it one way or another, since we somehow brought this scourge here, why not bring over something that can EAT IT.
 
In theory, it sounds lik a good idea... But in reality, it's a very bad one, that has been tried many times before and has rarely (maybe even never) worked. It would work great if the predator you brought in exclusivly ate lionfish!!!! but that's very rarely the case... usually, the predator also takes a liking to other native species around and feeds on them also. Sometimes, the predator even prefers the native species and will ignore the one you wanted them to eat since these other, easier prey are available! And then you have double the problem on your hands since you introduced another species onto your reefs! You're just made a bad situation worse...:shakehead:

It's frustrating, but there is nothing we can do to get rid of these buggers without potentially doing more (maybe even worse) damage to the ecosystem! They are here to stay, so lets cross our fingers that they do not take up too much place in the caribean reef ecosystem! And lets take measures for keeping this from happening again!:coffee: Because if we don't, it will... You can count on that...

I know this may be opening Pandora's box here...but what about introducing its natural predator to the area? Seriously...everything I have heard about this damn fish is that it is incredibly invasive, very deadly to local fish populations, breeds like a cockroach, and has NO natural predators here.

We have to deal with it one way or another, since we somehow brought this scourge here, why not bring over something that can EAT IT.
 
I wonder when we'll get so used to them that no-one will post on this thread?

The big question is: Will they eat Sharpnose Puffer Fish?
 
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