[Coral-List] new mystery fish

[Rhyne, Andrew]

Gene, this is no mystery fish.  It is the panther grouper, it once was
living in an aquarium and was likely released when it grow to large and no
one wanted it.  This is not the first sighting of this fish (I think #6 in
Florida) and given its prevalence in the trade and large size finding them
is not surprising.


Mark, your statement regarding an increase in Panther groupers vs.
lionfish sales are not supported by any facts or papers I have seen. I
have to wonder where you have gotten such information.  It is very
misleading to suggest that lionfish sales have decreased because of the
invasion, and that C. altivelis is being replace as the top predator.
This is simply not true in Florida or in the States in general. In fact
I'm betting we will see a decrease in imports of lionfish and a sharp rise
in domestically collected lionfish.  Both fish have been staples of the
"fish-only" predator tanks. Both fish are likely less popular today
because of the shift from fish tanks to reef tanks.   The large groupers
are very problematic because they are purchased small and grow entirely
too big for any normal fish tank. C. altivelis also makes it way in to the
trade as small "cute" groupers easily because they are aquacultured in
large numbers for food. So there is a cheap abundant supply of juvenile
fish for the pet trade. These fish will grow into something few can keep
in their homes.  It surely begs questions at to the sanity of not having
some sort of science-based decision matrix to determine what should be in
a fish tank and what shouldn't be.


Andy
-- 
Andrew L. Rhyne, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology and Marine Biology
Roger Williams University
One Old Ferry Road
Bristol, RI 02809
arhyne at rwu.edu

Research Scientist
John H Prescott Marine Laboratory
New England Aquarium
One Central Wharf 
Boston, MA 02110




On 1/19/13 12:00 PM, "coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov"
<coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

>Message: 4
>Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:26:13 -0800 (PST)
>From: mtupper <mtupper at coastal-resources.org>
>Subject: Re: [Coral-List] new mystery fish
>To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov, Eugene Shinn
>	<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
>Message-ID:
>	<331979151.358028.1358533573075.JavaMail.open-xchange at emailmg.ipage.com>
>	
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
>Hi Gene and List,
>
>This is not terribly surprising. Since the lionfish invasion, many
>aquarium
>stores have replaced lionfish with Cromileptes altivelis (humpback
>grouper) as
>the primary "top predator" species for sale. It was only a matter of time
>before
>they starting showing up in Florida.
>
>I see from the various news articles that some people are hoping these
>Indo-Pacific groupers will prefer to eat Indo-Pacific lionfish. Perhaps
>(and
>that would be great), but I bet they'd prefer to slurp up some nice,
>spineless
>parrotfish and wrasse and maybe a lobster or two, just like the native
>Atlantic
>groupers.
>
>Cheers,
>Mark
>
>
>Dr. Mark Tupper
>Coastal Resources Association
>207-10822 City Parkway, Surrey, BC, Canada V3T 0C2
>www.coastal-resources.org
>Email: mtupper at coastal-resources.org
>Tel. 1-604-588-1674; Mobile: 1-604-961-2022
>
>Philippines Office:
>Poblacion, Sagay, Camiguin, Philippines 9103
>Tel. 63-927-921-9915
>
>On January 18, 2013 at 9:40 AM Eugene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu> wrote:
>>Of possible interest to coral-listers....New Pacific fish shows up in
>>the Atlantic.. Gene
>>http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/09/3174200/mystery-fish-invades-keys-w
>>aters.html#storylink=cpy
>>--
>>
>>
>>No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
>>------------------------------------ -----------------------------------
>>E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
>>University of South Florida
>>College of Marine Science Room 221A
>>140 Seventh Avenue South
>>St. Petersburg, FL 33701
>><eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
>>Tel 727 553-1158----------------------------------
>>-----------------------------------
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>End of Coral-List Digest, Vol 53, Issue 20
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