Invasive Lionfish on the East Coast

"As soon as we hit the bottom we found one," said Jeff Reid, the dive safety officer for Georgia Aquarium. "As soon as we got it we saw another and got it. Then we saw two more but we spooked them." In three twenty minute dives they surfaced with nine of these beautiful but alien predators...

"They're a big problem," said Gail Krueger, outreach coordinator for Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. "They're voracious and they eat everything. And what they like to eat best is baby grouper and snapper."

Gray's reef, a national marine sanctuary, located near to the collection site, saw it's first lionfish two years ago. It is believed that the area is not under threat from an all out invasion as it has shallower water at 60 feet which gets colder than the lionfish prefer. But these preferences can change. "We expect that these fish will probably adapt to cooler water as time goes on," said George Sedberry, sanctuary superintendent. "Right now they don't seem to be surviving the winter."

"These things are like a plague of locusts, they're so abundant and so voracious," said Mark Hixon, professor of zoology at Oregon State University and co-author of the study. "Fish in the Atlantic have never seen them before. They don't even see them as fish, that's the scary part."

"Small fish don't even do anything. They take no evasive action," Hixon said. "They'll be sitting there in a school and a lionfish comes up and it's like, 'Oh, Bob's gone. Oh, Ed's gone.'"

Gray's Reef, which helped organize the lionfish hunt, is glad to be rid of as many as possible. The Georgia Aquarium is planning to open an invasive-species exhibit scheduled to open April 1 at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It plans to educate hobbyists so they will not release any more unwanted, overgrown fish from their aquariums and for others including divers, to be aware.

Lionfish, now found in high numbers along the Atlantic coast, are relatively new invaders. Native to the Indo–Pacific, Lionfish are venomous predatory fish with few, if any, enemies. Their beauty makes them very popular in the aquarium trade, and introduction was likely due to release from private aquaria. Lionfish have venomous spines that can potentially harm humans if envenomated (stung)..

The Georgia Aquarium plans to educate people about lionfish so home hobbyists won't release more and divers will know to beware.

The array of up to 18 spines on the top of the lionfish can deliver a painful, sometimes nauseating - though not deadly - sting. Experts advise those who get stung to treat the affected skin with water as hot as can be tolerated.

How best to control lionfish remains uncertain. A program in the Bahamas encourages eating them. "They're closely related to rockfish," Kanezaki said. "They're delicious."