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Bonaire's National Marine Park with the help of many volunteer divers has been catching lionfish for the last few months. CIEE Research Station Bonaire has been collecting these fish for research purposes; recording date, depth found, divesite and total length.
On March 9th CIEE 's Resident Director Dr. Rita Peachey plotted growth rates of the fish brought in over the past 19 weeks - the lionfish are growing at a rate of about an inch per month (see graphs below for data). The first graph is of mean total length (TL) of the fish brought in each week. The second shows the TL of each fish and the date it was caught. Not many of the fish have been dissected yet - but Dr. Peachey has found a cardinal fish, a bluehead wrass, shrimp and crabs in their stomachs so far.
Mean Growth Rates Lionfish Bonaire
- Lionfish found on Red Slave dive site in the south of Bonaire -
Below are some old reports of lionfish stings for your information/reading enjoyment - the venom is very toxic - it is a neurotoxin SO - ALWAYS BE VERY CAREFUL HANDLING THESE FISH - .
- Volunteer divers guiding a lionfish into a transparent plastic net -
SPREAD OF LIONFISH SINCE 1992
Lionfish have been expanding their range since being introduced in Southeast Florida in the early 1990’s. Initially, the fish started appearing along the east coast of the US and Bermuda.
Their larvae were probably carried along with the jet stream. In 2005, lionfish were documented in the Bahamas. Since then, lionfish have spread south across the Caribbean Sea to Central and South America. On October 26th, 2009, the first lionfish was captured by the Bonaire National Marine Park. The next day, a lionfish was found in Curacao. Since then the marine park has collected 6 other specimens – all fairly small (2 – 3 in). Lionfish are native to the Pacific Ocean and are voracious predators of coral reef fish and larval coral reef fish. They have no natural predators in the Caribbean.
- Pterois Volitan -
It is possible that grouper or sharks could prey on lionfish but the populations of large predators in the Caribbean are at about 10% of historical levels. Without predators, lionfish populations can grow quite fast and the populations of fish they prey on can be depleted. In Bonaire, a good population of parrotfish is credited with helping to keep algae in check on the island. Predation on parrotfish could alter the balance on the reef and result in more algae, which is bad news for hard corals – the building blocks of the reef.
First live lionfish at CIEE
Below the NOAA article on lion fish invasion
