The story of the Lionfish and how it's devastating Coral

During my time as a divemaster in the British Virgin Islands, I got to see first hand how an invasive species can devastate a coral reef. Coral everywhere is under duress due to anthropogenic climate change, but there is another culprit adding to the destruction, and that is the lionfish.

Lionfish are quite a beautiful fish, that hails from Southeast Asia, and have natural predators there such as grouper, sharks, eels etc. The population in this area is kept in check as nature intended, and everything lives in symbiosis. Over recent years though, the Lionfish has spread to the Caribbean, the Eastern Atlantic, and now even the Mediterranean. There are competing stories on how they have come to be in these areas, but two are likely the reason. One, in the late 80's - early 90's they were introduced by the aquarium trade. People would buy these fish because they are so beautiful, but when they put it in their tanks, they ate every fish up to it's size, and ruined the diversity of the tank. People would then throw them into the ocean. Another is during Hurricane Andrew in 1992, coastal aquariums were devastated, and they "escaped" into the gulf. Now you may be saying how is this possible that only a couple fish lead to the problem it has become? Well there are several factors.

First, they are a very durable species. Lionfish can live in water as low as 45-50 degrees Farenheit and as high as 95-100 degrees Farenheit. Second, Lionfish can live as deep as 1000 feet. Third, Lionfish become sexually mature in less than a year, and once mature can lay up to 2 MILLION eggs a year, reproducing around every 4 days, and larval duration is about 3 weeks. They also can live in very high densities. Lionfish have 13 venoumous spines on their body, and if you are stuck with one it is a paralyzingly intense pain. Due to the fact that they are venomous (NOT POISONOUS) fish in these areas have not become accustomed to eating them, and as a result they devastate the coral reef in these areas.

Now onto how they kill the reef. Lionfish are voracious eaters, feed on dozens of different species, and can eat species that are as big as it. So the speed of reproduction and fact that no natural predators exist lead to the inundation of a reefs with Lionfish. Once on a reef they feed on all the juvenile fish in the area. These juvenile fish play a vital roll in keeping the coral afloat ;) They are responsible for eating the algae that is present around the reef. When this doesn't happen, algae increases, and compete with the coral for the essential nutrients they need to grow. When the algae becomes too much, the reef dies off.

As I mentioned before Lionfish are not poisonous, and that means that they can be eaten by humans. Not only can they be eaten, but they are absolutely delicious. Another positive is that while they are invasive, they are not evasive. Hunting them with a Hawaiian sling is quite easy, just take care not to get stuck by one of their spines. If you are immediately soak the impacted area in as hot of water as your body can stand. So if you see Lionfish on the menu at a restaurant, due your part and order it!