Zebra lionfish established off NC coast

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Gambusia

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Nov 26, 2003
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Went to the NOAA lab in Beaufort, NC this past week.

Saw several big tanks full of adult and juvenile lionfish.

These were collected offshore of NC near shipwrecks.

Apparently since 2001 more and more lionfish are turning up off NC and they are breeding!

:eek:

The folks at the NOAA lab think they were released by aquarists.
 
I've been monitoring this for a while. The lionfish are actually found from Florida all the way up to New York.
The research teams are killing the American lionfish by the dozens. Scroll through the first link below and you will see lionfish being speared and stacked up like trophies, it's kind of disturbing if you love Pterois Volitans. I sent a letter last week to Paula Whitfield asking them to stop spearing/killing so many lions, they killed 145 in just a few weeks. Although invasive, the species is here to stay; (even NOAA admits that) so there is no reason to be killing so many of these beautiful fish, it's wasteful and shameful to see so many Pterois Volitans speared and gutted in the name of "research."

http://shrimp.ccfhrb.noaa.gov/lionfish/mission.html

http://shrimp.ccfhrb.noaa.gov/lionfish/map.html
 
I respectfully disagree.

All and every one of them should be killed on sight.

The only confirmations of breeding adults has been around Bermuda and off NC.
 
Yep, I figured as much, and yes, know they are invasive (a relative term) and fish lover that I am, I say let 'em live.
"All and every one of them should be killed on sight..." LOL, a little too draconian for my taste, not to mention impossible which is the whole point.
You cannot kill them all, this is not a backyard pond in Alabama. So your logic is...? Perhaps they are using their venomous spines to damage the local fish pop? (NOAA nonsense from their website) Again, NOAA admits the Pterois are here to stay; killing them is futile and wasteful of a species loved by divers and photographers the world over... so my contention is leave them alone.
 
If nothing is eating them they will have to go offshore and kill a bunch of them.
 
As said, a worthless endeavor and waste of tax dollars.
 
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