Frighteningly high numbers on the 'islands' of structure on the sand bed. Good job removing so many. If it were me, I'd nail'em and drop'em; stuffing them in a bag seems like a sting risk.
But this video raises a new concern for me. I've historically seen the lionfish danger assumed to revolve around them eating large numbers of small native creatures. But in a habitat like where this video was shot, where most of the ocean floor is a sand bed with occasionally structures like hunk of rock of wreckage, does the habitat become dangerous to other large predators?
In other words, let's say you're a grouper, too big for lionfish to eat, but you want to hang around a structure instead of being a 'sitting duck' for sharks, barracuda & such in open water. But large numbers of lionfish cover the area structures so you can't stick by one without getting stung.
Does this constitute a habitat loss for groupers & other such predators?
Richard.
