Red Lionfish Invasion!

It’s raining so hard here at blogcentral, that the roof is leaking. While a few drops of water may not mean a lot to most, when you are working in a room with machines using tens of thousands of volts of electricity, this becomes a real threat. Thus, this first post may be our last.

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I read an interesting article by Daniel McFadden of the Associated Press earlier this week about invasive species in the Gulf of Mexico. I think invasive species is an extremely ambiguous term that no doubt is confusing to many, and it’s worth clarifying our terminology before moving onward.

An invasive species, is by most definitions, a species that is not native to its current habitat that is some how harmful to the habitat it has come to reside in. By not native we mean that it is not traditionally found in its new ecosystem, and has by some manner only recently arrived. Today when we talk about invasive species we most often mean introduced species, and that is to say species that we as humans moved into their new habitats.

There are a number of invasive species that are likely familiar to Americans including zebra muscles in the Great Lakes, “flying” carp in the Misssissippi River and Kudzu in the Southeastern United States. The focus of the quoted article, the red lionfish, is looking likely to become a prime example of invasive species in a major vacation hotspot, the Caribbean.

Introduction of new marine species by humans can be done in a number of ways, most often by maritime vessels releasing ballast water. Ballast water in water that ships take in at one location to stabilize the vessel, and often release it far away areas where they are docking. This ballast water often contains fish and other aquatic animals larvae and eggs that may not be native to a region.

Other major methods of introduction of invasive species include accidental transport on ships and airplanes, and intentional transport of species for domestication or for pleasure viewing (e.g. zoos and aquariums).

Today’s example of an invasive species was transported by way of pleasure viewing.

“The red lionfish, a tropical native of the Indian and Pacific oceans that probably escaped from a Florida fish tank, is showing up everywhere - from the coasts of Cuba and Hispaniola to Little Cayman's pristine Bloody Bay Wall, one of the region's prime destinations for divers.”

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”Researchers believe lionfish were introduced into the Atlantic in 1992, when Hurricane Andrew shattered a private aquarium and six of them spilled into Miami's Biscayne Bay, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”

Yikes!

The lionfish in coral reef ecosystems represents a perfect storm. The lionfish is an aggressive animal that is able to out-compete native species. The lionfish is a voracious consumer of native species. And lastly, the lionfish has been introduced to an ecosystem that already under a great deal of stress.

Lionfish are likely to get a lot of attention in the upcoming years because they are both visible to tourists and somewhat hazardous to swimmers. But the real threat they pose is in terms of damage to the already fragile ecosystem they are invading.

“Wherever it appears, the adaptable predator corners fish and crustaceans up to half its size with its billowy fins and sucks them down in one violent gulp.
Research teams observed one lionfish eating 20 small fish in less than 30 minutes.
This may very well become the most devastating marine invasion in history," said Mark Hixon, an Oregon State University marine ecology expert who compared lionfish to a plague of locusts. "There is probably no way to stop the invasion completely."

In addition to its voracious appetite, the fish has shown a surprisingly large range for a tropical fish, being spotted as far north as Rhode Island. According to my diving buddies, they have been seen in the waters of the south shore of Long Island as well.

The red lionfish represents a real challenge to marine planners trying to manage the delicate coral reefs. The effects of this species will be felt over a large latitude range from the Caribbean all the way into the Northeastern United States. Of course, this is only one of the many many species we have introduced and are in some way responsible for.