Extent and Speed of Lionfish Spread Unprecedented Invasive

Extent and Speed of Lionfish Spread Unprecedented

Invasive Marine Fish May Stress Reefs

The rapid spread of lionfish along the U.S. eastern seaboard, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean is the first documented case of a non-native marine fish establishing a self-sustaining population in the region, according to recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studies."Nothing like this has been seen before in these waters," said Dr. Pam Schofield, a biologist with the USGS Southeast Ecological Science Center in Gainesville, Fla. "We've observed sightings of numerous non-native species, but the extent and speed with which lionfish have spread has been unprecedented; lionfish pretty much blanketed the Caribbean in three short years."More than 30 species of non-native marine fishes have been sighted off the coast of Florida alone, but until now none of these have demonstrated the ability to survive, reproduce, and spread successfully. Although lionfish originally came from the Indo-West Pacific Ocean, there are now self-sustaining populations spreading along the western Atlantic coast of the U.S. and throughout the Caribbean.It is not yet clear exactly how the new invasive species will affect reefs in this part of the world. Foremost on the minds of scientists is the lionfish's predatory behavior, which may negatively impact native species in the newly invaded ecosystems. They have already been observed preying on and competing with a wide range of native species.Invasive lionfish were first reported off Florida's Atlantic coast in the mid-1980s, but did not become numerous in the region until 2000. Since then, the lionfish population has spread rapidly north through the Atlantic Ocean and south throughout most of the Caribbean. The spreading population is now working its way around the Gulf of Mexico.Schofield spent years compiling and verifying sightings of lionfish, reaching out to local experts such as biologists, museum curators, natural resource managers, divemasters and citizens groups to collect detailed records of specimen collections and sightings throughout the region. The records were compiled in the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database and used to map the fish's spread.

No one knows for sure exactly how the predecessors of the current population first made it into the Atlantic and Caribbean, but Schofield believes the invasion serves as a warning of the dangers posed by introductions of non-native fishes into an ecosystem."This invasion may constitute a harbinger of the emerging threat of non-native marine fishes to coastal systems," Schofield said.In the Florida Keys, Schofield and her team are working closely with partners from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Beaufort, N.C., and Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) in Key Largo, Fla., to analyze lionfish diets, an important first step in understanding their impact on reef ecosystems. Eradication of lionfish is probably not possible, admits Schofield. Yet, local control efforts may be able to keep the population tamped down, releasing pressure on the native ecosystem. Many Caribbean countries, such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, have begun lionfish control programs. In the U.S., REEF held a series of lionfish derbies in the Florida Keys that resulted in the removal of more than 600 lionfish from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.For More InformationRead Schofield's most recent paper, "Update on geographic spread of invasive lionfish in the Western North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico," was published in the Dec. 2010 issue of Aquatic Invasions; it updates a 2009 article published in the same journal.

USGS Lionfish FactsheetNOAA's Lionfish WebsiteREEF's Lionfish Research Programs Contact Pam Schofield of the USGS - See more at: http://www.alertdiver.com/Lionfish_Spread_Unprecedented#sthash.OfeTsROx.dpuf