aquarium concerns

[Alina M. Szmant]

Two batfish were removed from Molasses reef I am but, but there is still 
one Pacific batfish remaining on French reef in Key Largo FL because I 
photographed it late this summer.

Alina Szmant

At 05:27 PM 11/06/2001 -0600, Joshua Feingold wrote:
>Hi John & Coral List Serve Members,
>
>Here's a Caribbean data point.
>
>On a recent dive (Sept '01) I observed a large adult Pomacanthus maculosus
>(a Red Sea and W. Indian Ocean native) on a shipwreck off Fort Lauderdale.
>In the same general locale Paul Human mentioned to me that he has observed
>Pomacanthus semicirculatus (Indo-W. Pacific and Indian Ocean native).
>Batfish were removed from KLNMS earlier (last year?). It seems that we have
>the "smoking gun" of non-native species being released, or that have
>escaped, into the wild.
>
>So, even though I don't know of any culture facilities along our coast
>here, there are species introductions occurring that may be associated with
>the aquarium trade.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Joshua Feingold
>National Coral Reef Institute
>Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center
>
>At 03:07 PM 11/05/2001 -0500, John McManus wrote:
> >Hi Charles,
> >
> >Yes, I do find it fascinating that coral reefs seem to have resisted
> >invasion from aquarium fish so far. Your examples from Hawaii are very
> >helpful in that regard.
> >
> >My impression is that healthy coral reefs, at least, are particularly
> >unhealthy for anything out of place. Even a fish frightened by a diver will
> >often be devoured in a matter of seconds for being slightly more vulnerable
> >to a barracuda or other predator than normal. This may be less true in
> >overfished reef areas. There may be a high critical threshold in starting a
> >new population -- which has implications in particular for the resilience of
> >Hawaiian reefs to local extinctions. I'm quite worried about mass culture
> >facilities in out-of-normal-range locations providing the critical
> >thresholds during hurricanes. Thus, the recent discovery of exotic coral
> >facilities in the Caribbean is worrying. Then there is always the problem of
> >"low probability over long periods of time and large numbers of trials".
> >However, I would opt for the greatest immediate concern being put on mass
> >culture and holding facilities in unnatural locations.
> >
> >Cheers!
> >
> >John
> >
> >_________________________________________________________
> >
> >John W. McManus, PhD
> >Director, National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research (NCORE)
> >Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS)
> >University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
> >Miami, Florida 33149.
> >jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu
> >Tel. (305) 361-4814
> >Fax (305) 361-4600
> >www.ncoremiami.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Charles Delbeek [mailto:delbeek at waquarium.org]
> >Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2001 7:10 PM
> >To: jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu
> >Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >Subject: Re: aquarium concerns
> >
> >
> >At 12:20 PM 11/2/2001 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> > >Speaking of invasive species, here is an excerpt of today's news from
> > >PFP SeaSpan ~~ The bi-monthly electronic newsletter of the
> > >Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation. Note that there are many ways
> > >other than through aquaria that species are introduced. I think we should
> > >seek to limit all sources.
> >
> >John: Not to say your point is without merit but in Hawaii tropical marine
> >fish have been imported into this state for decades, and there have been
> >numerous releases over that time span, however, there has not been a single
> >incident of any aquarium fish forming a reproducing population here that I
> >am aware of. I would hazard to guess that the same may also occur in
> >Florida. Yes you do occasionally see sightings of Centropyge flavissimus in
> >Kaneohe Bay and elsewhere around Oahu and the odd damsel here and there,
> >but that's about it. Where there has been catastrophic changes have been
> >when the state government, despite advise from scientific consultants
> >released fishes here such as the bluestripe snapper, Lutjanus kasmira, and
> >the peacock grouper, Cephalopholis argus, the snapper in particular has
> >been implicated in the decline of local snapper species. There have also
> >been attempts in the last few decades to seed reefs with giant clams and
> >some corals from the south Pacific, none of which survived.
> >
> >In contrast, the freshwater streams and lakes on several of the islands are
> >almost completely dominated by aquarium fishes such as cichlids and
> >livebearers. In this case, the lack of any competition in the local
> >freshwaters probably played a significant role.
> >
> >Aloha!
> >
> >J. Charles Delbeek
> >Aquarium Biologist
> >Waikiki Aquarium
> >2777 Kalakaua Ave.
> >Honolulu, HI, USA 96815
> >808-923-9741
> >808-923-1771 FAX
> >
> >
> >
> >
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