#ScienceatSea While on board NOAA Ship Nancy Foster surveying Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, TAS 14 Amy Orchard encountered some #lionfish: Along with the traps, [scientific divers] Ben and Ariel brought five Lionfish, Pterois volitans, back up. Lionfish are not naturally found here. They are native to the Indo-Pacific. It has not been determined exactly how they got to the area but they are very popular for home aquariums. It was decided that efforts to eradicate the species would be futile since they are prolific breeders, have no natural predators and have been found in extremely deep waters where it would be unfeasible to reach them. Instead, there are large efforts to manage their populations in certain areas. - TAS Amy Orchard tinyurl/o8w7xsn Photos: [Top] Notice the large, wide mouth. This is a voracious predator which is part of the problem with them moving in to the area. [Bottom] Kissing this invasive species good-bye (well, at least these five).
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:18:45 +0000
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