Lionfish BANNED from import?????

[Dewman]

Looks like they're playing with the idea of banning Lionfish from import.
I'm not sure if this is a new thing or not. It's the first I have even heard any notion of a ban. Are lionfish captive bred??

Looks like the snakehead threat stirred up this hornets nest.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... ay/4297827

 

[Len]

First and foremost, introducing foreign species into native waters is a bad bad thing. Do not, under any circumstance, release S. Pacific tropical fish into your coastal waters.

That being said, I found the article humorous.

* The lionfish, native to the western Pacific Ocean. First reported earlier this year, this striped fish has been spotted off the East Coast from Florida to Long Island. It wields its long, poison-tipped spines to impale and paralyze small fish and crustaceans, but its venom is strong enough to be a danger to humans.

Fisheries experts worry that the lionfish will gobble the prey of native groupers and snappers.

First off, lionfish either capture prey that linger too close by quickly sucking it up with its mouth, or corning prey (with the assistance of its long spines) ..... not via impalement. The venom is more a less a defensive mechanism, not a predatory device. The idea of a lionfish trying to prick fish passing by is a comical one.

Second, I would love to see a Lionfish gobble up 2-5 feet groupers and snappers. I don't doubt the lionfish preys upon juveniles and smaller species, but the first picture that came to mind was a lionfish trying to force a fish twice its length into it's stomach, let alone mouth.

But as misguided as the author is, foreign species should never be introduced into native ecosystems. This can't be repeated enough.

 

[Dewman]

I re-read the post. I hate the spin game. The press is always looking for ways to make the situation worse.
I have a vision of a mother, somewhere along the eastern seashore, who has no idea what the habits of such a fish are, telling her 12 year-old that he cannot go swim because of the new danger of lionfish.
It seems like every time I get a hobby, someone wants to step in the middle of it.
This sort of thing happened when I became active in shooting sports. I had just gotten into Service Grade Rifle competition and the whole Brady fiasco took off.

Does anyone know if Lions are captive bred.

 

[Anonymous]

Why would anyone ever try to introduce non-native species into the wild? There have been so many reports of this happening and the effect of it. I would think people would have learned by now.

That being said, I found the article humorous.

*
Fisheries experts worry that the lionfish will gobble the prey of native groupers and snappers.

Second, I would love to see a Lionfish gobble up 2-5 feet groupers and snappers.

Just a clarification, the article said that lionfish will eat the prey of the groupers/snappers not the grouper snappers themselves. That means that the lionfish will eat the feeder goldfish that mother nature is throwing in our oceans.

 

[Len]

Ah. Apparently, me not so good read english