Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Death to Lionfish in the Atlantic Ocean!
Check out this website on lionfish. Lionfish are native to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but are considered an invasive species to the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. They are voracious predators, reproduce quickly, and threaten commercially important species, such as snapper and grouper. http://www.deathtolionfish.org/
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Whoa, I had heard about a few Lionfish sightings few years ago, but I had no idea that the problem had grown so severe over the past few years. Now, large numbers of Lionfish are being found from the Caribbean to North Carolina. Not only are their numbers increasing but they are increasing rapidly.
ReplyDeleteThese fish are so destructive because they eat a lot. Their stomachs can grow 30 times bigger than they are thus allowing them to eat a ton of food. Not only do they eat a ton but they also have no predators due to their venomous spines. So, the Lionfish are damaging because they eat commercial fish, starve out commercial fish, and force commercial fish to relocate.
The problem itself is going to be hard to correct at this point and likely needed to be stopped years ago when these fish were released into the waters that have now been invaded.
I always thought that Lionfish were the coolest fish until I heard that they were an invasive species. I always thought that they had always lived off of our coast, because the aquarium has them in a tank, but then I took the time to read about them. I never thought that they could have been released by people on purpose or by accident. People are really so negligent that they would release a non-native species into our waters? What were they thinking?
ReplyDeleteI never thought that you could fillet a Lionfish. The way you fillet them is by laying them out on a cutting board making sure not to touch the poison spines. Then you cut as far forward as you can because most of the meat is located around the "shoulder". You then slice along the back bone and belly and remove the meat. You can leave the skin on or remove it. Then you can grill it, fillet it, or do whatever (just make sure it's cooked).
I never thought that a way to get rid of an invasive species was to eat them. Very interesting!