Lionfish in the Atlantic - Aquarists to blame?
 

Interesting

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/envi...ry/859227.html

Who would of thought that lion fish could cause so much troubles.

I'd put my money on idiot aquarists. Seems to me the ship ballast theory is a bit of a stretch although I guess it's not entirely impossible .. it just seems to me the more plausible possibility, path of least resistance sort of thing. :(

People dump fish all the time unfortunately, I'd believe that over "ballast water" anyhow....sad.


Mind you....when I was 7 or 8 I bought a live lobster from a vendor....and set it free....In Long lake, (yellowknife NWT,)....pretty sure he didn't make it, but I thought I was doing good at the time!! :(

ballast water introduces a lot of species, but lion's in Florida are there because of ignoramus hobby aquarists.

Wow thats crazy.

:biggrin:

yeah although shocking as this development may be, mother nature will soon re balance her self and the eco system will become lionfish freindly maybe not in our life times but on a geological scale it shouldnt take too long should it?

IMO any fish that could be a threat to a certain ecosystem should not be kept within a 100 miles of it because of hurricanes and irresponsible owners unwilling to find proper homes

true, mother nature is a tough cookie and will likely rebound from whatever we throw at (or into) her. that said, what will it cost? Lions reproduce quickly, are well defended with venomous spines and eat ANYTHING they can fit in their very large mouths. If a lion population gets a good hold, you can say goodbye to a lot of small fish species in the Atlantic. if they don't go extinct, they will at least be driven to low abundance.

...Guess this means the price of lionfish at the LFS should go down :p

i think you mean up so people are serious about owning them ;)

I am going to agree with the water ballast theory, this is how 99% of the evasive species have been transfered around the world, and the reason why there are sevear regulations about how and where you can ballast or deballast your ships now.

Steve

well first of all, where did you get 99% from? US EPA states "Over two-thirds of recent non-native species introductions in marine and coastal areas are likely due to ship-borne vectors, and ballast water transport and discharge is the most universal and ubiquitous of these". I do agree that this is a severe problem and is far from addressed despite ballast fill/discharge regulations.

lions associate with reefs and i have a hard time seeing ports sustaining a good enough environment to sustain a them. so i remain dubious concerning the lions-by-ballast theory. im much more inclined to blame it on ignorance of well meaning people... actions with the best intentions applied carelessly can often lead to the most devastating results. and "i didn't know" isn't a good enough excuse to me.

Just wondering, do ships even fill ballasts near any reefs. I would think the lionfish count in a harbour would be real low. I'd vote Aquarists.

the 99 was a number out of my head, just meant a high amount.

Lion fish are around reefs, yes, but also around man made structures that substitute as artificial reefs, so in theory they could suck up all kinds of fish around old established jetties in the tropics.