Lionfish Invasion Threatens Coral Reefs in the Atlantic and Caribbean
Submitted by Richard Waite on August 29, 2011
Lionfish on a coral reef in The Bahamas. Photo credit: Richard Carey, www.richardcareyphotos.com.
Recent news reports from Texas to Jamaica to the Bahamas have documented the rapid spread of the lionfish—an invasive marine species. Lionfish have quickly become established across the waters of the southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean. New sightings abound—earlier this month lionfish reached the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. Because of their role in upsetting the ecological balance of coral reef ecosystems, the rapid growth in the populations of these fish poses a grave threat to the region’s coral reefs. Consequently, the region’s fishing and tourism industries, which depend on coral reefs, may also be at risk. Governments across the region are trying to respond to the lionfish invasion by developing new campaigns and cooperation strategies that could pose important lessons for how to deal with invasive marine species in the future.
Two species of lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) are responsible for this recent and growing threat to Atlantic and Caribbean reefs. Native to the Indo-Pacific, these species’ colorful and dramatic appearance make them popular ornamental fishes in saltwater aquariums (see photo above). Though no one is certain how or when the lionfish invasion began, strong evidence suggests that people first introduced lionfish to the Atlantic along the southeastern coast of Florida, where they were first sighted in 1985. By 2001, people reported sightings in waters off the coasts of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Bermuda. Over the last decade, lionfish population densities have increased in these areas and these species have spread southward, and are now established throughout