Invasion of the Caribbean

Tourists? Pirates? Aliens?  Hungry Real Estate Agents?  No, something much more dangerous!!  They are unmistakable, the elegant spines and colorful stripes cause them to stand out in any saltwater tank and expose the location of their lair within the coral reef as you swim past.  The Lionfish is a member of the Scorpion fish family and is native to the South Pacific, Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.  How could something so graceful and appealing be more dangerous than invading tourists or thieving pirates?  This very aggressive, voracious, and poisonous predator has almost no natural enemies in the Caribbean.  They can quickly devour all of the smaller reef fish within their home territory and they reproduce at lightning speed; the female will lay from 15,000-40,000 eggs per month.   Left unchecked they can do irreparable damage to the Caribbean eco system. 

How did they get so far from home?  It has been documented that six Lionfish escaped when an aquarium was destroyed during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and many people also assume there have been some released into the wild by individual owners. 

I started diving in the Caribbean in 2008 and it was rare to see a Lionfish at that time.  In the last year it has become common place to see multiple Lionfish on every dive we do.   Many popular dive locations have begun to try to control the Lionfish population by encouraging local dive masters to take part in a contest to see who can spear and bring back the most Lionfish within a specific time period in return for prizes.  It is not easy to spear them; the Lionfish can move fast and hide in small places.  After they present their catch many dive masters will take the fish home and fry them up for dinner.  The poison is located only at the tip of the spines so once the spines have been removed there is no danger and the tender, mild white meat is quite delicious.   One dive master in Cayman Brac was quite the Lionfish hunter and he would clean them on the boat after our dive.  He showed us the enlarged liver of his catch and told us that most of the Lionfish he catches have this enlarged fatty live from eating too much. 

Larger fish such as Grouper and sharks are beginning to learn that Lionfish can be a tasty treat but I have not seen any predation on live Lionfish.  These predators will follow divers in areas where Lionfish are hunted regularly in order to eat the dead fish that are left behind or to steal them from the end of the spear.   Hopefully these fish and other larger predators will soon learn to hunt Lionfish on their own.

Just a few weeks ago in Freeport Grand Bahama I saw a Lionfish cookbook and I have heard talk of restaurants wanting to add it to their menu.  The problem with this is there is no easy way to commercially harvest Lionfish.  The labor intensive way they must be caught will mean they will be a limited and expensive menu item. 

I am sure it is too late to completely eradicate Lionfish from the Caribbean but hopefully the ecosystem can eventually adapt and until then we can work to keep their numbers in check.