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 ;)