Red Lion Fish Invasion

[patr]

Hello Everyone,

Have you heard about the venomous red lion fish invading the Caribbean waters?

For you recent travelers, any sign of these invaders in the waters around St. John?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080813/ap_ ... h_invasion

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,403361,00.html

[cptnkirk]

Sea urchins now lionfish it"s gettin dangerous out there. Hope they don't make it to St John and can get them in check. Sounds as if they cause havoc on the reefs.

[Teresa_Rae]

I read about that a few weeks ago...I hope and pray that the reefs don't get more damaged than they already are!

[California Girl]

This is bad. Very bad. I hope the Lionfish can at least be brought under control if they can't totally eradicate them (which sounds like an impossible job!)

[liamsaunt]

Yes, I read about this too! In the article I saw someone suggested that if you see one you should "push it into a bag and capture it, or if you do not feel comfortable capturing it, alert a ranger to its location."

Ummm....I'll be alerting the ranger, thanks. Getting hospitalized by a lionfish is not my idea of a fun vacation!

[Maggy]

Yes, I read about this too! In the article I saw someone suggested that if you see one you should "push it into a bag and capture it, or if you do not feel comfortable capturing it, alert a ranger to its location."

Ummm....I'll be alerting the ranger, thanks. Getting hospitalized by a lionfish is not my idea of a fun vacation!

Agree! I would not touch them.

I saw several of those in Thailand (where they are supposed to be) and was surpriced about how small they were and how difficult they were to discover. I knew about these fishes before I dove, so I was looking for them, but the dive master pointed out at least three of them, and they were really good at melting in on the reef. But viewing from a safe distance, they were beautiful to see. They should just not be where they don't belong.

[California Girl]

Yes, I read about this too! In the article I saw someone suggested that if you see one you should "push it into a bag and capture it, or if you do not feel comfortable capturing it, alert a ranger to its location."

Ummm....I'll be alerting the ranger, thanks. Getting hospitalized by a lionfish is not my idea of a fun vacation!

The only problem with that is that I don't usually snorkel with a bag!

[nothintolose]

I think they are beautiful...at our local aquarium!

All I kept thinking about when I read that was kudzu and termites!

[hugo]

Some food for thought: Everyone on here seems to recognize the dangers to the reef from an alien invader, but the same people are crazy about donkeys , deer and goats. Are St. John's forests SO much less valuable-- or are fury creatures just SO much more charismatic, it doesn't matter what they're doing to a unique ecosystem? I'm not trying to antagonize animal lovers (I'm an animal lover myself)
just maybe point out a double standard

[nothintolose]

Hugo - I agree with you as I see what the goats do out in East End and Coral Bay.

We have a major problem with nutria destrying our marshes, and the formosan termites are eating houses here like crazy; both of them were brought here from other places. The termites hitched rides on ships and some idiot brought the nutria here for the fur and they escaped during a hurricane.

I am totally against taking things out of their natural habitats and bringing them to other locations for whatever reason. I couldn't do anything about them or the goats, donkeys and monsgooses (what the heck is the plural of mongoose), but if I do see a lion fish; I will tell a ranger.

Good point you brought up.

[California Girl]

I have to agree with you Hugo. It IS a double standard. But National Geographic (or whatever publication) hasn't done articles on goats & donkeys, so that problem just isn't brought to the forefront for everyone to be aware of. We all see the furry creatures as something to feed and hug, while lionfishes sting you and eat every other fish in the water. Goats & donkeys would be much easier to control if anyone cared to take on that job, but these fish are hiding in deep waters in a huge ocean where it's harder to track them down and eradicate them. I also think lionfish are beautiful, but so is a picture of a hurricane from the air. What's beautiful can also be very destructive. Has anyone ever tried to bring the goats, donkeys, mongoose, etc. under control on STJ? It seems like on a small piece of real estate like that island it could be done fairly easily... if anyone was willing to kill or export those animals, but relocating the animals would be very expensive and I doubt anyone is cold blooded enough to go out and kill them, either. Hey Tom, need some shooting practice? The next gourmet item on the menu at Deli Grotto could be goat burgers.

[DuggChris]

Hi
This paper on Lionfish looks pretty definitive : www.coastalscience.noaa.gov/documents/lionfish_ia.pdf.
Same note I posted on TTOL.
Peace
Dugg and Chris
http://picasaweb.google.com/papadugg/

[California Girl]

Interesting read, Dugg. Thanks!

[waterguy]

Actually the Park service was shooting donkeys a couple of years ago to try and give the native veg. a chance. Here it is zebra mussels. That give me fits trying to keep our water intakes open. They came in the ballast water of ocean going ships that came into the great lakes. How about these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLFe8xfg ... re=related

The Gov. has people that do this work but most of the time you won't hear about it because of the negative press they get

[cass]

Those Asian Carp are nasty beasts! I boat on the Mississippi River, and although they don't seem to be as active now as they were last year, their presence is still noticeable. They are getting bigger and bigger and scare the crap out you when they decide to hitch a ride in the boat!