Lion Fish
Invasive Lionfish
The Issue Video: Lions of the DeepIn less than a decade, the Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois miles and P. volitans) has become widely established along the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean. Lionfish are presently invading the Gulf of Mexico and South America. Recent estimates of lionfish densities indicate that lionfish have surpassed some native species with the highest estimates reporting over 1,000 lionfish per acre in some locations.
Lionfish are capable of permanently impacting native reef fish communities across multiple trophic levels. Lionfish occupy the same trophic position as economically important species (e.g., snapper and grouper) and may hamper stock rebuilding efforts and coral reef conservation measures. CCFHR first documented the establishment of Indo-Pacific lionfish in the Atlantic and is leading NOAA's efforts to study the lionfish invasion. NOAA is accomplishing its research missions on lionfish through strong collaborations with the Reef Environmental and Education Foundation (www.reef.org) and the United States Geological Survey
BIO -The lionfish invasion is an unprecedented event for the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean. The biological and ecological underlying mechanisms that have facilitated this event are many and confounded by interactions with native organisms, temperature regimes much different from the lionfishes native range, and the lack of baseline information on the species.
Since the lionfish were first documented as established, CCFHR has lead many investigations into the biology and ecology of lionfish.
Population - The rapid invasion of lionfish into the Western North Atlantic and Caribbean will undoubtedly affect native reef fishes via processes such as trophic disruption and niche takeover, yet little is known about the dynamics of this invasion. We constructed a stage-based, matrix population model in which matrix elements were comprised of lower-level parameters. Lionfish vital rates were estimated
The Issue Video: Lions of the DeepIn less than a decade, the Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois miles and P. volitans) has become widely established along the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean. Lionfish are presently invading the Gulf of Mexico and South America. Recent estimates of lionfish densities indicate that lionfish have surpassed some native species with the highest estimates reporting over 1,000 lionfish per acre in some locations.
Lionfish are capable of permanently impacting native reef fish communities across multiple trophic levels. Lionfish occupy the same trophic position as economically important species (e.g., snapper and grouper) and may hamper stock rebuilding efforts and coral reef conservation measures. CCFHR first documented the establishment of Indo-Pacific lionfish in the Atlantic and is leading NOAA's efforts to study the lionfish invasion. NOAA is accomplishing its research missions on lionfish through strong collaborations with the Reef Environmental and Education Foundation (www.reef.org) and the United States Geological Survey
BIO -The lionfish invasion is an unprecedented event for the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean. The biological and ecological underlying mechanisms that have facilitated this event are many and confounded by interactions with native organisms, temperature regimes much different from the lionfishes native range, and the lack of baseline information on the species.
Since the lionfish were first documented as established, CCFHR has lead many investigations into the biology and ecology of lionfish.
Population - The rapid invasion of lionfish into the Western North Atlantic and Caribbean will undoubtedly affect native reef fishes via processes such as trophic disruption and niche takeover, yet little is known about the dynamics of this invasion. We constructed a stage-based, matrix population model in which matrix elements were comprised of lower-level parameters. Lionfish vital rates were estimated