[Coral-List] Lion fish consumption

[Doc Radawski]

At CoCoView Resort (16.3N x 86.4W) on Roatan's south shore, we have been
spearing lionfish since the last quarter of 2009.
The majority of the spearing has occurred on twenty (20) core dive sites.
Snappers, groupers, moray eels and lobsters have been observed, eating,
wounded or dead lionfish. To date, no one diving with us has observed and/or
reported, any fish, crustacean or other organism attacking a live lionfish
and consuming it, on its own. In addition, no one has reported seeing any
lionfish egg sacks or lionfish laying eggs in vivo.
Recently, two of our dive guides have reported seeing a moray eel and a
grouper entering confined spaces where there were lionfish. These were two,
separate incidents. In both cases, the lionfish fled from the assumed
predator species. The predator failed to catch and consume the prey, in both
incidents. Perhaps this is initial evidence, that Caribbean predators are
learning to attack and eat lionfish without human intervention.
I have also heard that there are verbal reports from divers observing
predator species attacking and consuming lionfish, of their own volition.
These have apparently occurred  in the Sandy Bay- West End Marine Reserve
(RMSBWE). However, to date, to the best of my knowledge, no one has
photographically documented any of these events. FYI: The RMSBWE begins at
Lawson Rock ( 86.5512 W x 16.3440N), on the north west side of Roatan;
extending outward to sea and around the West End of Roatan to Key Hole  (
86.5800W x 16.2828N) on the south west side of Roatan.

Sincerely,

Doc Radawski
www.cocoviewresort.com



On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 07:01, Belize Marine TREC <trec at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> We have been spearing Lionfish almost daily since last year in Belize.
> We have offered them to snapper, grouper and morays and have
> had no success in getting these fish to consume them.  When left
> on the bottom wrasses pick at them.  That is our experience so far.
> Also, our limited stomach content analysis has revealed only shrimp.
> KC Mattes
> www.BelizeMarineTREC.com
>
>
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