SEPTEMBER 2012 
0 COMMENTS
Lionfish are voracious predators with few natural enemies and early indications are that they will significantly impact the ecological balance of Florida and Caribbean reefs
The expansion of exotic red lionfish into the western Atlantic may be explained by their tolerance of cooler waters, according to a new study.
The red lionfish, Pterois volitans, is perhaps the best recognised and most notorious group member of scorpion fishes – a large and diverse group that take their name from the potent sting they deliver using a formidable array of venomous spines. Prized by aquarium hobbyists for their showy looks and hardy nature, the fish are a bane to biologists struggling to manage exotic introductions in the Mediterranean and western Atlantic.
The Atlantic introduction is especially troubling as the fish have established persistent populations from North Carolina on the US eastern seaboard, to the Florida reef track, into the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean Sea – all in less than 20 years. Lionfish are voracious predators with few natural enemies and early indications are that they will significantly impact the ecological balance of Florida and Caribbean reefs.
Temperature is thought to be an important environmental factor influencing red lionfish ecology in the Atlantic. While surprisingly little is known about their thermal ecology, it is clear that this tropical fish can feed, grow and reproduce in cooler Atlantic waters. In 2012 researchers with Operation Wallacea quantified thermal niche, preferred temperature and metabolic thermal sensitivity of native population of red lionfish from Hoga Island, Indonesia.
The findings indicate that while the red lionfish thermal niche is not notably large, it is shifted towards cooler water temperatures. For example, lionfish could be acclimated to temperatures as low as 12.5°C and exhibited a preferred temperature of 23°C. A similar study on blue-spotted ribbontail stingrays from the same back reef habitat yielded considerably higher acclimation and preferred temperatures of 17.5 and 28.2°C, respectively.
This tropical fish can feed, grow and reproduce in cooler Atlantic waters
Together the results may explain the persistence of lionfish in cool US waters. Metabolic studies revealed that increasing temperature elevates biological rates exponentially, a feature consistent with the current hypothesis that warmer Caribbean Seasummer temperatures relative to the Pacific, have contributed to the rapid reproduction rate and alarming pace of lionfish expansion into the Caribbean.
The current plan is to repeat these studies with a Caribbean lionfish population at the Operation Wallacea site in Honduras. The potential exists to see significant changes in thermal tolerance characteristics between the two sites, owing to the small founding population in the Atlantic. Insights gained from these comparative studies will provide a better understanding of red lionfish thermal ecology between the two regions and how global climate change may effect lionfish distribution of both areas.
I think that this topic is very serious because not only could the lionfish also keep spreading to different locations but they could also disrupt or completely destroy the new habitats they are entering. The reason this being is that they may take a liking to a certain species of fish as a food source and begin hunting it down, and that fish species can be a keystone species, and if the keystone species is removed then the whole ecosystem will collapse. This ties into class because on a previous unit we talked about keystone species( specifically the sea otters) and how they are improtant they are and we also did a project on exotic/invasive species so we as a class also know what effects exotic species have on an ecosystem.
ReplyDelete1:Should we try to conduct lab tests to see if the local species will feed on the lionfishs' predators and then try to bring those predators into the habitat to even the predator populations and the lionfish populations?
2:Do you think that global warming is making the lionfishes natural habitat to warm, therefore making them seek a new home?
3:Do you think that local fish will evolve with a new adaptation to combat the soon to be rising populace of the lionfish?
Hello, I'm Zach Reilly and my 9th grade science class is writing blogs about environmental issues in the world. Since your article was used, we would greatly appreciate if you could review and comment on the summary and question formulated from your article.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to the article:
http://sciencepeoplez.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-role-of-temperature-in-spread-of.html
I chose to invite the author of the article because i believe the best opinion comes from the author. The author also can elaborate on the subject better than any other scientist in the feild becasue they are the ones who wrote it in the first place. Plus Wayne Bennnet can give the best evaluation of all of our comments and answers about the article.
My job was to invite a professional on this topic, and I chose to invite Wayne Bennett. I think that this was a good choice because he wrote the article. This guarantees that he has a good background on his topic. Also, he is a college professor at the University of West Florida, which means he must be very good in his field to obtain his position. These reasons are why I believe that he is a professional on this topic and is good to invite.
ReplyDeleteHere is a copy of the email I sent him.
Hello,
My name is Sean and I am a participant in my ninth grade honors environmental science classes blog. Recently, we discussed the article you wrote entitled "The Role of Temperature in the Spread of Lionfish". We all commented and discussed on this, and it would be greatly appreciated if you could take a moment and contribute to our blog.
Thank you, Sean
http://sciencepeoplez.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-role-of-temperature-in-spread-of.html
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy schedule says that I was the one inviting the professional, and I have done every other option.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the opportunity to discuss our article on exotic introductions of lionfish into the western Atlantic. Lionfish have received a lot of recent attention, in part due to their spread into areas such as North Carolina where temperatures are cooler than one might expect for a tropical fish. Another unique feature about this particular invasion is that it represents the first successful introduction of a wholly marine fish into a novel habitat.
ReplyDeleteThe comments above by Daniel that the fish is likely to negatively affect the ecology of Atlantic ecosystems is one that is shared by many biologists working on the problem. The rapid rate of reproduction and lack of natural predators is contributing to the ease with which lionfish have spread into new areas. There is some evidence that certain grouper species my eat lionfish, but it seems unlikely that this alone will keep them in check. I suspect that any efforts to implement biological control will have to focus on the larval stage before the fish are recruited to the reef.
The reality is that lionfish are in the western Atlantic, and quite likely to remain there. Mitigation, in what ever form it takes, will be expensive and will probably focus on containment rather than eradication.
Perhaps the important lesson we can take away from the lionfish problem is that we should be paying more attention and putting more effort and money into identifying and regulating the sources of exotic fish introductions. In the case of lionfish, the invasion was the result of aquarium release. Thousands of fresh and saltwater fishes are imported each year into the US for the pet trade, with little or no understanding of their ecology or the potential for establishment in local waters. Better management policies for this and other introduction avenues is likely the best defense against future exotic species introductions.
I found an article that also explained Dr. Bennett's ideas. It explains how the lion fish traveled to USA waters, why this is bad, and what ways it can be prevented. I think that it does a good job reassuring Dr. Bennett's studies.
ReplyDeletelink: http://sailorsforthesea.org/Sailing-and-The-Environment/Ocean-Watch/Ocean-Watch-Essays/The-Lionfish-Invasion.aspx