May 19, 2017 — Saturday is “Lionfish Awareness and Removal Day” in Florida. Lionfish are an invasive species off Florida’s coasts. People in southwest Florida are studying the fish’s impact and others are helping to keep the invasive species’ population under control.
Sometime in the 1980s, a boat coming somewhere from the Indo-Pacific had lionfish onboard. That’s how they ended up in the waters off Florida where they don’t belong. They’re white with red stripes, and have eighteen hypodermic-like needle-sharp venomous spines on their fins. They’re the kind of fish you see in aquariums.
They’re pretty fish. But, as Florida Gulf Coast University marine biologist Mike Parsons said, their impact on the waters off Florida’s coasts, where they’re not supposed to be, has been anything but pretty.
“In terms of marine invasive species, this is probably one of the major ones that have had an impact on the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico,” said Parsons. “This is probably the biggest impact we’ve seen locally.”
And, Parsons said, they’re really good at breeding.
“A female can basically spawn 20,000 eggs every two or three days. And so a single female can spawn 2 million eggs a year,” he said.
Parsons also said lionfish are more productive when it’s warmer. And in recent years those high levels of production remain constant year round.