Ned and Anna DeLoach to Speak on Impending Lionfish Invasion
Earlier this week, an adult lionfish was documented on Aruba. This is the closest sighting to date for Bonaire, and demonstrates that the fish will be in Bonaire’s waters sooner than expected. Ned and Anna DeLoach, noted underwater naturalists, are currently on Bonaire, and have offered to speak on the impending lionfish invasion.
The presentation will be on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 6:30 PM at the Poolbar at Buddy Dive Resort. Ned and Anna will speak about important information about the lionfish and also how divers can assist with the containment of this invasive species.
As some background information, lionfish are considered a dangerous pest because they are not native to the Caribbean, reproduce quickly, have no natural enemies on the Caribbean reefs (except for large groupers which are practically extinct because of overfishing), and devour large amounts of small and juvenile fish dramatically reducing recruitment of new reef fish such as snappers, groupers, grunts, and parrotfish. They also have sharp, highly venomous spines that cause excruciating pain when stung, and, in exceptional cases, can even cause death in humans. Lionfish started their conquest of the Caribbean in 1992, presumably after having been released or escaped from an aquarium in Florida. First they spread northward along the coast of the United States. Ten years later, they jumped to the Bahamas, a few years later to Cuba, and, in just the past two years, spread among all the northern islands of the Caribbean and Central America. A map of their progression can be found by clicking here.
Because lionfish spread by dispersal of larvae that can travel great distances in the sea currents, and they live down to depths of 175 m (600 feet), it is practically impossible to completely eradicate them once they are established, with new larvae continuously coming in from distant locations. The only practicable response is to control their numbers by capturing them as soon as they are spotted. They are easily caught using two hand nets, and they are good to eat.
In Aruba’s situation, Byron Boekhoudt, Coastal Zone Management coordinator of Aruba, reports that on Thursday the dive shop Unique Sports on Aruba went back to the spot where a lionfish had been reported and was able to locate and capture it. People from the Aruba fisheries department (DLVV) were alerted and picked up the fish. Byron Boekhoudt will arrange to take samples of the fish for DNA analysis through the REEF organization, who are working with experts to analyze genetic material from lionfish from all over the Caribbean and Western Atlantic to establish the relationships between local populations.
The captured lionfish was estimated to measure about 20 cm (nearly 8 inches) from the tip of its mouth to the fork of its tail. It is now temporarily on display at the Buccaneer Restaurant, which kindly cooperated and provided their aquarium to keep it until everything is ready to euthanize it and prepare the DNA samples according to the protocol provided by REEF. Only four months ago REEF held a very timely workshop on Bonaire to prepare for the coming of the lionfish in the Dutch Caribbean islands.
Previous Bonaire Insider reports on this situation are available by clicking here and also here, and include a summary of Bonaire’s plan for containment of the species as well as links to other information sites. (Source: MINA, Buddy Dive Resort)
