[Coral-List] Lionfish in Puerto Rico

[Hernandez Edwin]

Hola, Steve et al.

According to local fishermen in Culebra Island, 27 km east of Puerto Rico, when some of theme were confronted with lionfish pictures they claimed having seen the fish for the past 10-15 years or so around Los Corchos and La Puso reefs, east of Culebra, particularly in deeper waters, 80-140 feet. They described their shape, color, size, behavior, and preferred reef habitat perfectly matching the known characteristics of the species. These are the northeasternmost coral reefs of PR state waters, and are located several km west-northwest of Red Hind Bank, St. Thomas, USVI. I have not personally seen any of them yet.

Regards.

Edwin

Edwin A. Hernández-Delgado, Ph.D. 
Affiliate Researcher 
 
University of Puerto Rico 
Department of Biology 
Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation 
Coral Reef Research Group 
P.O. Box 23360 
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931-3360 
 
Tel (787) 764-0000, x-2009 
Fax (787) 764-2610 
 
e-mail: coral_giac at yahoo.com 
 
Web page: http://ccri.uprm.edu/researcher/Hernandez/ 
          http://crest-catec.upr.edu/

--- On Sat, 1/31/09, Steve LeGore <slegore at mindspring.com> wrote:
From: Steve LeGore <slegore at mindspring.com>
Subject: [Coral-List] Lionfish in Puerto Rico
To: "Coral List" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Date: Saturday, January 31, 2009, 9:49 AM

A friend, a marine ornamental fish collector, tells me he captured a lionfish in
Bahia Montalvo adjacent to one of the mid-bay mangrove islands on Saturday,
January 17th.  The water was about 6 ft deep and the 5.5 inch-long fish was
found in a grass bed with mud bottom.

The catch has been reported to local NOAA folks, who visited and photographed
the fish, and who were scheduled to visit the site for taking GPS coordinates,
so I assuem a more formal report will be forthcoming.

Steve

Steve LeGore, Ph.D.
LeGore Environmental Associates, Inc.
2804 Gulf Drive N.
Holmes Beach, Florida 34217 USA
Executive Director,
Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean
Tel: 941/778-4650
Fax: 941/778-4761
Cell: 941/447-8010
GMT + 4 hrs
http://www.devex.com/SteveLeGore
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