Lion fish invading Florida???

[chet-tonja]

A guy at work said he heard over the weekend that lion fish have migrated to the gulf coast of Florida. Any validity to that??? He claims that there have been several stings on swimmers. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks

[eses]

Someone posted about this in the general forum awhile back, there was also a story on MSN. A few have migrated or something, and people can step on them if they are hiding near rocky shores. There have also been sightings off the Atlantic coast if I'm not mistaken, in waters that would typically thought of as too cold for the fish.

[FishDaddy]

Apparently true.
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAL9L7FSXC.html
Since Lions are Indo-Pacific fish, I would suspect that these have been released by people who have bought them. Not a smart thing to do.Florida in particular, seems to have many non native species dumped into the waters, both fresh and salt.
Dick

[Biomanjcs72]

Yes, I read the article on discovery channel online.


If they are breeding, not a happy thing, but the article didn't mention a breeding population, just some sightings. But if they are breeding, and they could be and no one knows it yet, that's bad, really bad.

Picture the crash of the snapper, grouper, and trigger fish populations off the coast of GA, NC, SC, FL, MS, AL, LA.

It could happen.

[bowfront]

Funny how rummors spread. If you read the article posted above you will see that one lionfish was captured on the eastcoast of Florida. I live here and believe me we have our share of exotics. The drainage canals are teaming with all kinds of exotic freshwater aquarium species. Saltwater aquarium release is a definite problem since the ocean stays warm enough year around in southern Florida to accomodate a breeding population of non native tropical Pacific species. I personally have seen an adult Panther Grouper (Chromileptes altiveles) that was speared by a commercial diver on one of our reefs. To my knowledge there is no indication yet that there is a breeding population of lionfish in Florida waters.

[chet-tonja]

Thanks for the article! I went to CNN and found a small story. I'm just a big fan of the beautiful fish and I have spent alot of my vacations in Florida with family living down there. Check out my signature!

[SomeHairyOldGuy]

Kewl Tattoo! Is it yours?
SHOG

[chet-tonja]

Yeah, I got it around 3 years ago or so. I got poked for several hours on that cool tattoo. Thanks for the complement!

[ravenmore]

I don't think they migrated all the way from the Pacific. They'd have to do a tag and release program to confirm that and I don't think that has been done. More than likely people have been dumping them from their aquariums.