The lionfish king: Turning a problem into palatable profit

[Sunlei]

Last month five marine scientists boarded the Antipodes, a submersible off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with an unusual two-day mission: to look for evidence of the spread of reef-destroying exotic lionfish in deep waters.

Out in the depths of the ocean they found something shocking. Lionfish had surrounded the Bill Boyd sunken cargo ship, which sat on the sandy bottom, about 250 feet down.

It was bad news for the scientists. The population of the invasive fish, which causes immense damage to native reefs, was clearly booming. Even worse, the fish were clearly still expanding their range, happily roaming far from their usual habitats of reefs, wrecks and rocks.

The species is a huge problem. After being first reported off Florida’s Atlantic coast in the mid-1980s, the lionfish blanketed the Caribbean and spread from the Florida Keys to North Carolina's Cape Hatteras in less than a decade. They gobble up all the juvenile fish in their path, which eventually results in the breakdown of the coral-reef ecosystem.

full story http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/8/25/the-lionfish-kingturningaproblemintopalatableprofit.html

[Champion Jack]

1. Here's how

Cutting to the chase

Nichols would create a lionfish market by himself, from the incidental catch of his lobster traps. He would sell the fish to local restaurants. So instead of tossing them or lamenting his lost lobsters, Nichols caught them, kept them and started selling them.

The biggest hurdle, Nichols said, was negotiating a good wholesale price. He had to convince restaurant owners that lionfish could be a desirable specialty item. To do that, he filled his truck with buckets of lionfish and visited every restaurant in his area.

"I showed the chefs how to fillet them and fried them up on the spot," Nichols said. "They don't yield a great amount of meat, but they're delicious."

[Sunlei]

2. with each fish producing 30k eggs , 3x a year and no natural predator.these fish will take over.

all the warm seas.

[Aerows]

3. No, that's 3x a MONTH

If only it was just 3x a year. It's more like 36x a year 30K eggs!

[Sunlei]

5. oh you're right, I misread. wonder how long before these fish infest the west coast.

[Aerows]

6. I think they are native to some areas of the Pacific

and therefore have predators there.

[X_Digger]

8. Not quite. All reef fishes produce prodigious amounts of eggs.

Those that are broadcast spawners (they don't make nests or carry the eggs, they just let loose into the water) end up feeding a lot of smaller fish, invertebrates, and corals.

For most species of broadcast spawning reef fish, only one in 1,000 eggs will get fertilized, and only 1 in 1,000 will make it to settlement, and another 1 in 1,000 make it past metamorphosis.

[backscatter712]

4. Aren't lionfish related to poisonous pufferfish?

In Japan, pufferfish are known as Fugu, they're prepared by specially trained chefs, and they're quite the expensive delicacy. If they're prepared incorrectly, you won't survive to dessert.

[X_Digger]

7. Nope, no relation

The venom glands are at the base of the spines and is easily cut away. Cooking destroys the toxin quickly- some folks use the spines as picks in cubes of the meat.

The only danger is in certain waters around the bahamas, they may contain ciguatera.

But any predator fish in those areas is likely to contain some amount of ciguatoxin- snapper, grouper, jacks..

[malaise]

9. Lion fish explain why we need regulations

They were allowed into the US for pet shops and aquariums - just like the freaking snakes that are threatening everything that moves in the Everglades. All it took was one massive hurricane for both species to break lose as a result of the destruction of secure homes, aquariums and pet shops and all hell has broken lose.
Not one living creature should be imported without research being completed on what would happen if they end up on land or sea, swamp or trees.
Nwo the entire Caribbean is fucked with these lion fish.